Facing an AIC team that had been on a 1-5 slide and didn’t even dress its starting goalie, Air Force turned in what might have been its worst performance of the season in a 5-0 Atlantic Hockey defeat at Springfield, Mass., on Friday.
The Yellowjackets (4-7-1, 4-4-1 AHC) scored three times in the first 12:28 of the game and ended with a 30-20 shots on goal edge. They also ended the Falcons’ five-game win streak.
““That was a major league butt-kicking,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said. “They beat us in every facet of the game. The only thing that went in our favor was that the score should have been worse. They beat us to loose pucks, they won races and they made plays.
“They were clearly the better team this afternoon. We need to come out with a better effort tomorrow and see what happens.”
Short-handed lineup
Zach LaRocque started in net for the third game in a row for Air Force. Starting goalie Billy Christopoulos, who didn’t play last weekend against Bentley because of the flu, missed the game with a lower-body injury.
The Falcons also were without senior center Evan Feno (lower body) for the second game in a row and senior wing Matt Serratore (concussion) for the eighth game in a row. In addition, forwards Joe Tyran (leg) and Jensen Zerban (concussion) and defenseman Carter Ekberg (concussion) also were out.
Lack of support
Unlike last weekend, when the Falcons (6-5, 6-3 AHC) rallied around LaRocque, the sophomore was largely left to fend for himself on Friday.
The Yellowjackets scored their first two goals off rushes. Tobias Fladeby buried Hugo Reinhart‘s centering pass just 2:52 for the first of his two strikes. Fladeby struck again on the rush, taking a drop pass from Blake Christensen. Luka Maver made it 3-0 with 7:32 to play in the first when he redirected a point shot by Patrik Demel.
AIC’s final two goals – one in the second period and another in the third – came off a turnover and another odd-man rush.
With 2:13 to go in the middle period, Martin Mellberg finished a back-door pass from Chris Dodero after an Air Force turnover. Maver scored again on a 2-on-1 with 3:50 to play in the game.
Junior backup goalie Zackarias Skog made 20 saves for the second shutout of his career.
Notes
The Falcons killed off all four of their penalties, but also went 0 for 3 on the power player. … Face-offs were an even 31-31. … AFA had just 32 total shot attempts.
Up next
The teams play again Saturday at 11:05 MST. AM 1300 has the broadcast, and atlantichockey.tv will carry the webcast.
©First Line Editorial 2017-18
