On a day in which several teams around Air Force in the Atlantic Hockey standings picked up points, it was incumbent upon the Falcons to do likewise.
Mission accomplished. Air Force twice scored goals in the opening minutes of a period and senior Billy Christopoulos stopped all 22 shots he saw in a 3-0 victory over Canisius on Friday night at Cadet Arena. The shutout was his third of the season and eighth of his career.
“I liked our game tonight,” coach Frank Serratore said. “Canisius has some firepower and is a dangerous team. They had enough chances to score, but Billy was good. This was a good start for us. Now we need to build on this. After giving up eight even-strength goals at Bentley, it was nice to come out and get this one.”
Kyle Haak had a goal – his team-high 12th – and an assist, and defenseman Zack Mirageas added two assists for the Falcons (14-11-4, 12-8-3 AHC).
Keeping pace
Air Force held serve in the Atlantic Hockey standings, remaining tied with RIT for third with 27 points. They trail second-place Bentley, which lost to Niagara and has played one more AHC game, by three points.
Walker Sommer put the Falcons up just 35 seconds into the game on goal from inside the circle to the left of goalie Matt Ladd of Canisius (9-18-3, 6-16-2).
That was all the scoring for more than 30 minutes until Haak struck shorthanded with 8:29 to go in the second.
Sophomore defenseman Alex Mehnert scored his first goal of the season on a power play 3:05 into the third off a feed from Mirageas.
The Falcons, who fired 34 shots at Ladd, went into lock-down mode after that, holding their guests to just five third-period shots.
Walker Sommer got Air Force on the board early Friday. Photo courtesy of Russ Backer and Air Force Athletics
Air Force’s three stars
- Billy Christopoulos. The senior made 22 saves for his third shutout of the season.
- Kyle Haak. The senior center scored a shorthanded goal – his team-high 12th – and set up Walker Sommer’s tally in the game’s first minute.
- Alex Mehnert. The defenseman continued his strong play of late, scoring his first goal of the season.
Up next
The teams play the series finale Saturday at 5:05 p.m. at Cadet Arena.
©First Line Editorial 2017-19
