Air Force (13-9-4, 11-6-3 AHC) at Bentley (10-11-3, 9-7-2)
Friday and Saturday at 5:05 p.m. at Waltham, Mass.
Radio / webcast: 1300 AM and TuneIn / atlantichockey.tv (webcast)
Series: Air Force leads 31-13-6 and swept Bentley 4-2 and 4-1 at Cadet Arena in November
Overview
How do the Falcons win? After 26 games it’s pretty clear they win with goaltending and special teams. Goalie Billy Christopoulos leads the league in save percentage (.933) and GAA (1.74) in league games. The senior, who was selected Atlantic Hockey’s goalie of the week after giving up just two scores all weekend vs. Robert Morris, has not allowed more than two goals in eight consecutive starts and overall has .923 and 2.10 numbers. As a result, Air Force also leads AHC in defense. The Falcons’ penalty kill remains strong, and at 88.7 percent is third in Division I. The power play also is solid, connecting 21.1 percent of the time (17th in D-I). … Bentley, which struggled to generate much offense earlier this season at Cadet Arena, obviously has improved by leaps and bounds and now is on a seven-game heater, going 5-0-2 to climb into the AHC race. Also named the Falcons, this weekend’s hosts are coming off a road sweep of Canisius by a cumulative 7-3. Bentley has scored four or more goals four times in that streak and three or more in all but one game. But the real difference is it has tightened up defensively, giving up more than two goals just once in the unbeaten streak. Junior goalie Aidan Pelino also has had a say in that. Overall he is 9-11-3 with .899 and 2.74 numbers. … Sophomore forward Luke Santerno (26 points), senior forward Drew Callin (22, 9 goals) and junior forward Jonathan Desbiens (20, 9) do much of the damage, but senior captain Tanner Jago (18, 6) also is a threat from the blue line. … D Matt Koch continues to lead the Falcons in points (21), and fellow seniors Kyle Haak (11) and Evan Feno (10) and freshman Kieran Durgan (10) are in a spirited battle for the goal-scoring lead. Feno also has 19 points and could play his 100th career game Saturday. Air Force is getting more scoring balance, with eight players in double figures in points, including three D – sophomores Zack Mirageas (13) and Jake Levin (10) are the others besides Koch.
Three keys for Air Force
Score first – The Falcons are getting somewhat better at coming back from deficits (they did it Saturday against Robert Morris, for example), but they’re 8-1-2 when they score first. As it stands, they’ve only scored 11 first-period goals in 26 games. On the rare occasions AFA has led after the first, it’s 5-0. This projects to be a defensive series if Air Force plays as it has most nights and Bentley continues its recent trend.
Power up – Only 10 of Bentley’s 76 goals have come on the power play (13 percent), but 13 of Air Force’s 66 have (19.6 percent). Air Force has to win the power-play battle, and to do that, it will have to pound the net with shots and roll up its sleeves to get to rebounds. When it did that last weekend it scored against RMU. When it stayed on the perimeter, the Colonials eventually got chances on counter attacks when they chipped the puck out of the zone or blocked shots.
Fire away – As good as Pelino has been, he hasn’t seen nearly as much rubber as he did earlier in the season – and remember his save percentage is still under 90. It behooves AFA to test him early and often.
©First Line Editorial 2017-19
