Colorado College’s equipment manager caught a small break Friday night.
The Tigers’ 6-2 non-conference victory over Air Force meant he has one less item to unload at Falcon Stadium on Monday. The Pikes Peak Trophy will remain at Colorado College for another year.
A three-goal surge in the first 2:34 of the second period sparked the Tigers and sent the Falcons to their sixth loss in seven games. Marshall Bowery scored two goals for Air Force.
“They played better as a team than we did,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said. “When we made mistakes, they were huge.
“I’m not real pleased with our performance, and I haven’t said that too much this year.”
The only consolation for Air Force (8-16-5) awaits Monday, when they will play host to the Tigers (9-16-2) in the Faceoff at Falcon Stadium.
Win the program’s first ever outdoor game and the sting of Friday’ loss at World Arena would dissipate.
“Luckily we get an extra chance on Monday in a pretty awesome setting,” Bowery said. “I think all the boys are going to flush this game and focus on that.”
Tale of two periods
Air Force goaltender Alex Schilling, who was sharp in the first period, was shelled early in the second.
Schilling had stopped seven of eight Tigers shots in the first, the exception being Chris Wilkie‘s strike from the lower left circle after a pass bounced off a player in front right to CC’s leading scorer (19 goals).
Fellow senior Nick Halloran, who headed to the CC locker room late in the first period with an apparent injury, scored 11 seconds into the second when he gathered a loose puck above the right circle, walked in and backhanded it past Schilling.
With the teams skating 4 on 4 due to matching minors, Alex Berardinelli capitalized on a neutral zone turnover, outraced a Falcons defender and beat Schilling upstairs on a breakaway 2:13 in.
That ended the goalie’s night – only the second time in his 22 starts he’s been pulled. But his successor, junior Zach LaRocque, allowed Connor Mayer‘s goal 21 seconds later. The puck bounced off the boards right to the CC defenseman.
Power surge
The Falcons got one back midway through the second when Brady Tomlak‘s shot pass from the left point found Bowery on the backdoor of Matt Vernon for a one-timer just as a power play expired.
“It was a gorgeous pass by Tomlak,” Bowery said. “He was coming up the boards, he looked at me and kind of looked me off, which was awesome, a little bit of snake eyes. They just left me open and puck right on my stick I didn’t have to do anything.”
Air Force had more jump after the goal, outshooting the hosts 12-6 in the final 17 minutes of the period. The Falcons halved the lead when Bowery forced a turnover in the neutral zone, zipped right down Main Street and beat Vernon (27 saves).
That gave the junior wing eight goals and his second two-tally night this season. It also was the third goal of the game scored in a 4-on-4 situation.
That added some intrigue to the third period.
“The mindset was keep sticking to our plan,” Bowery said. “We came out slow in the second period and they took it to us. We weren’t ready for it. We got back on our horse and tried playing our game as best as we could.”
But CC salted it away with third-period goals by Mayer, his second of the game and third of his career, and a power-play strike by Grant Cruikshank.
“Take nothing away from them,” Serratore said. “It was 4-2, but you have to get the next one. You have to keep it going and we didn’t.”
The Falcons now have two days off to hit the reset button.
Welcome back
Senior captain Matt Pulver and freshman defenseman Andrew Kruse returned to the Falcons’ lineup. Pulver had missed the past two games, while Kruse had missed four in a row and nine of the past 11. Kruse jumped into the second D pair with Alex Mehnert, while Pulver was spotted as the extra forward and killed penalties.
©First Line Editorial 2020
