Special teams give and special teams take. Saturday night it was the latter for Air Force, which fell 4-1 to a determined Mercyhurst team in an Atlantic Hockey Conference series finale at Cadet Arena.
Power-play opportunities knocked time and again, but the Falcons (9-7, 9-5 AHC) didn’t have the answer despite rifling 15 of their 35 shots on goal with a man advantage.
“We just couldn’t find out looks,” Falcons co-captain Evan Giesler said. “We were having a tough time breaking into the zone.
“In the third period (when AFA had seven PP shots), we had a couple of good looks, but with the amount of power plays we had it kind of demoralizes you a little bit. You don’t have to score on every power play but it’s important to keep the energy up on the bench. Sometimes it can affect the bench when you don’t.”
Three strikes
There were three junctures in particular when the power play could have swung things Air Force’s way.
Defenseman Quinn Wichers‘ five-minute major for interference on a high, late hit on Evan Feno gave the Falcons two minutes at the end of the first period and three more at the start of the second to capitalize in a game they trailed 1-0 just 1:02 in after Jeremy Wu finished a tic-tac-toe play on Billy Christopoulos‘ back door.
The Falcons got five shots on the major but didn’t dent Garrett Metcalf (34 saves).
“They took a five-minute major, and when you don’t score on that or take advantage of a situation like that, generally it comes back to bite you in the ass,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “What happens when you don’t score, it demoralizes you and it pumps them up. (It was) another reason they deserved to win.”
Air Force had another carryover power play at the end of the second period, shortly after Kyle Haak cut the Lakers’ lead to 2-1 when he tipped in Zack Mirageas‘ blast from just above the circles with 4:32 to go. But again the Falcons couldn’t capitalize.
The final missed opportunity ended up hurting the most.
Less than 40 seconds after Mercyhurst (8-8-2, 6-5-1) was down a man 5 minutes into the third, defenseman Joseph Duszak intercepted a pass just to the Lakers’ side of the red line, outraced the Falcons’ defenders and deked Christopoulos on a backhand-forehand move to make it 3-1 just 5:04 into the third.
“(At the second intermission) I said, ‘Here we are boys, the sixth period at home, if we win this period we win this series and take points.’ What happened? Mercyhurst won the period,” Serratore said. “We had a power play and gave up a shorthanded goal. We had our opportunities. The better team was wearing green tonight.
Giesler put it more succinctly.
“When it’s a one-goal game and that makes it a two-goal game it’s a kick in the stomach,” he said.
It was Duszak’s second goal of the game; he also had the Lakers’ second tally midway through the second period.
“The kid read our power-play breakout,” Serratore said of the short-hander. “He took a calculated risk. That’s what he does – he’s a risk-reward player. He was the best player on the ice tonight, two goals and nine shots. That was the ballgame basically.”
Pierce Pluemer. Photo courtesy of Paat Kelly / Pengo Sports and Air Force Athletics
No beef with Billy
Christopoulos made 29 saves, and for the second night in a row had to make several breakaway stops. Had he not played as well as he did, the score could have been worse.
Maybe the breakaways will go away as a young defense corps continues to mature. Maybe better offensive zone entries will help solve the problem. You can bet it will be a teaching point in the coming weeks when the team reconvenes after the break.
“We’ve got to get shots through and pucks deep, and when we don’t they’re going to make us pay,” Giesler said. “Even if we’re not getting shots through, it’s important to stay on the defensive side and make sure they’re not getting those breakaways. It’s something we’re going to work on going forward.”
Looking forward
The loss ended the Falcons’ three-game winning streak, but they enter the Christmas break in first place in AHC by three points.
They reached nine wins in their 15th game this season, something that took 22 games last season, when they were 7-8-3 at the break.
While the power play didn’t help matters on Saturday, the penalty kill took care of five more chances and now has 30 consecutive stops. The Falcons also are beginning to get a bit healthier.
“The guys we’ve had out there have done a magnificent job winning three of the past four games,” Serratore said. “(Mercyhurst) didn’t take a shift off. The opposition was a better team tonight. They deserved it.”
It was Teddy Bear Toss night at Cadet Arena on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Paat Kelly / Pengo Sports and Air Force Athletics
Air Force’s three stars
- Kyle Haak. He scored the only goal, was involved physically and won 7 of 12 face-offs. He and linemates Marshall Bowery and Trevor Stone clearly were the Falcons’ top trio.
- Billy Christopoulos. More than a few of his 29 saves came off rushes. If he wasn’t as strong as he was Mercyhurst might have scored six.
- Pierce Pluemer. He and linemates Shawn Knowlton and Erich Jaeger were active all night and generated five shots.
Up next
The Falcons play host to Bemidji State in a non-conference series on Dec. 29-30. The Beavers are coached by Frank Serratore’s younger brother Tom.
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