Air Force twice rallied from deficits, but a late Mercyhurst goal left the teams in a 3-3 Atlantic Hockey deadlock at Erie, Pa., on Friday night.
Wins by RIT and Sacred Heart dropped the Falcons (14-12-5, 12-9-4 AHC) into a tie with the latter for fourth place in the conference. Mercyhurst (13-15-5, 11-10-4 AHC) sits two points back in sixth place.
Air Force got multi-point games from Brady Tomlak, Jake Levin and Alex Mehnert and rung up a 40-22 shots on goal edge.
“We did everything we could tonight,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said. “We showed great heart. I couldn’t be more proud of the guys.
“We played a really good 65-minute game. We found a way to battle back and earn a point. This was a heck of a road point tonight. I really like the way we are playing right now.”
Lakers defenseman Joseph Duszak spoiled the Falcons’ third-period comeback when he scored his 16th goal with 6:58 left in the game off a face-off win in the AFA zone.
Rally time times 2
Levin capped the Falcons’ second rally with a power-play goal off a D-to-D pass from Mehnert with 12:05 left in the game. It was the sophomore’s first goal of the season.
Just 94 seconds earlier, Marshall Bowery had tied the score at 2 when he took a pass from Matt Pulver on the weak side and beat Stefano Cantali (37 saves). Pulver had controlled the puck in the slot and took a huge hit as he fed Bowery.
The first two goals of the game came on redirections.
Tomlak’s power-play goal 8:34 into the second had evened the score at 1 after Lakers captain Josh Lammon tipped in Steven Ipri‘s power-play shot with 4:04 to play in the first period.
Tomlak tipped Mehnert’s point shot for his sixth goal. Eight minutes later, Mercyhurst retook the lead off a rush. Derek Barach beat a Falcons defenseman to the outside, and found Matthew Whittaker in the slot. Whittaker beat Billy Christopoulos (17 saves) for a 2-1 lead.
Christopoulos surpassed 2,000 saves in his Air Force career during the first period.
Notes
The Falcons were without sophomore defenseman Zack Mirageas, who was suspended by Atlantic Hockey for one game after his contact to the head penalty in Saturday’s loss to Canisius. Mirageas received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a high hit on Austin Alger with 9:09 left. Trailing 1-0 at the time, the Falcons then gave up a 5-on-3 power-play goal and an empty-netter. … In addition, junior wing Trevor Stone, who has eight goals, remained in Colorado Springs this weekend due to an illness. … Sophomore forward Max Harper and junior forward Pierce Pluemer returned to the lineup to fill the openings.
Air Force’s three stars
- Alex Mehnert. The sophomore defenseman had two assists, a team-high six shots on goal and blocked five shots.
- Brady Tomlak. Another Falcon who filled the stat sheet, with a goal, an assist and 13 wins on 21 draws.
- Jake Levin. The defenseman had one his best games with the go-ahead goal, an assist, a block and eight shots, three on goal.
Up next
The teams conclude the series Saturday at 5:05 p.m. MST
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