As well as Air Force had played going into Saturday night’s game against American International, the 5-1 Atlantic Hockey loss reinforced that the Falcons don’t have a great margin for error when they stray from their game.
A decent start was followed closely by a handful of defensive zone breakdowns that left goaltender Alex Schilling to fend for himself. The sophomore, who was outstanding on Friday, was pulled after allowing three goals in fewer than 4 minutes midway through the second period.
“In the second period it got away from us,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said. “It doesn’t take long, they’ve got some opportunists. If you miss an assignment, they’ll make you pay.
“When we play well, we play a good, structured game, a 200-foot game.”
Before Saturday’s loss the Falcons (6-9-3, 6-5-3 AHC) had points in nine of their previous 10 games, thanks in large part to the play of Schilling, who entered the game with a 2.00 GAA and a .915 save percentage.
Air Force tightened up in the second half of the game, allowing just seven shots after the second-period deluge by AIC (9-10-1, 9-5-1 AHC). Meanwhile, the Falcons generated 19 of their 30 shots during that stretch.
“They took what we gave them,” Serratore said. “They didn’t impose their will on us like they did last season at their place.
“We died of self-inflicted wounds.”
Air Force’s previous loss came at Niagara in overtime on Nov. 29. That also was the most recent time the Falcons allowed as many as four goals.
Seconds? No thanks
The game flipped during a 3:34 span of the second period, when the Yellowjackets scored on three of four shots.
Jared Pike beat a Falcons defender to the slot and buried a pass from Hugo Reinhardt, who had controlled the puck at the right point, at 6:02 for his sixth goal of the season.
Schilling (12 saves) then gave up goals on consecutive shots in a 58-second span. Kyle Stephan picked up a loose puck at the left point and carried it uncontested to the left dot, where he snapped it past the Falcons goalie for his first of the season.
Defenseman Parker Revering then scored the first goal of his career with all sorts of room to shoot from the top of the right circle with 10:24 left.
“Coming off a month break, communication is bigger than it usually is,” assistant captain Brady Tomlak said. “We play a man-on-man system, so once you’re on a guy, it’s your guy. We had some breakdowns, guys didn’t know who they had.
“Their D are activating all the time, it’s like playing against a five-man offense. A lot of it started with bad turnovers. First goal we had an opportunity to get the puck out and we didn’t, second and third goals we had an opportunity to get pucks deep and we didn’t. That’s what’s going to happen when we get away from our system.”
Revering’s goal ended Schilling’s night. Junior Zach LaRocque (six saves) played for the first time since Nov. 1.
“Schilling has been great for us, he was great Friday night,” Serratore said. “These guys were able to get to him.”
Those ended up being the final two shots on goal the Falcons allowed in the period. Air Force had the final eight shots of second.
Solid start fizzles
Things started promisingly enough for the Falcons. Tomlak finished a back-and-forth play with Shawn Knowlton to give AFA a 1-0 leasd just 3:27 in. Tomlak passed to Knowlton in the slot, Knowlton skated to the right of Stefano Durante (29 saves) before passing back to Tomlak at the lower left circle.
The Yellowjackets evened it up 3:30 later after some sloppy D zone coverage by the Falcons. Martin Mellberg, who had fallen down seconds before, regained his footing and buried a feed from behind the goal line from Austin Albrecht.
“We vacated the net front,” Serratore said. “A guy got loose on the wall and our man left his man in front. When you do that the puck usually finds your man.”
Next up
The Falcons trek to Army West Point next weekend for two games against their biggest rival, and one that has played very well so far this season. The 20th-ranked Black Knights, who are 13-6-1 overall and 10-6-1 in Atlantic Hockey.
“Obviously not the result we wanted, but (there is) some stuff we can build off,” Tomlak said. “The nice part is we have a great opponent next week in our rival Army and they’re having a hell of a year. It’s an opportunity to flush it pretty quickly.”
Injury updates
Junior forward Marshall Bowery, who scored two goals – including the winner – in Friday’s victory, missed Saturday’s game because of an undisclosed injury. Freshman Keenan Lund moved into the lineup. … Freshman defenseman Andrew Kruse also missed the game due to injury. Fellow freshman Luke Rowe replaced him in the lineup. … Senior center Erich Jaeger missed his 10th consecutive game.
©First Line Editorial 2020
