Air Force (0-2) vs. Arizona State (1-3)
7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Cadet Arena
Series: Air Force leads, 3-1, and is 2-0 at Cadet Arena
Three things to watch
Bounce back – How will the Falcons’ respond after playing five solid periods against then-No. 8 Notre Dame and one (the last one) to forget? “I don’t know if there is going to be a bigger period for us than that first period Friday night,” coach Frank Serratore said earlier this week. “We can control our effort, manage the puck better and be tougher to play against. … We can’t let what happened in the third period affect us. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.” … The Sun Devils are the second of three NCAA Tournament participants from last season that the Falcons will play. The third is AIC, who visits Cadet Arena in January.
Masked men – Junior goaltender Zach LaRocque fared pretty well for a little more than four periods vs. Notre Dame. Sophomore Alex Schilling got his first NCAA action in relief in the third period as the roof of Compton Arena in South Bend, Ind., seemed to be caving in. LaRocque seems to have the advantage in the starting goaltender race, but is this the weekend Schilling makes his first NCAA start?
Special teams – These two teams have scored about the same amount per game and allowed nearly the same amount of goals against per game, so – as it often does – this could become a special teams war. The Sun Devils take a lot of penalties, so Air Force should many opportunities to get its first (and maybe second and third) power-play goals of the season. The Falcons’ PK, so good last Friday at Notre Dame, has room to improve on Sunday’s 1-for-3 success ratio.
©First Line Editorial 2019
