Air Force brought the heat in the third period but came up short in a 2-1 loss to American International at Springfield, Mass., on Saturday afternoon.

Willie Reim‘s power-play goal off a pass from Brandon Koch with 13:50 to play drew the Falcons (0-2) within a goal, and Alex Schilling made 22 saves for the second Atlantic Hockey game in a row.

Here are three observations from the game (observation being used loosely given all of the “technical difficulties” with the webcast and radio broadcast):

You gotta have heart

Air Force showed plenty of resolve Saturday, and even though it lost, that should provide some encouragement for Falcons fans. Down 2-0 after giving up a power-play goal to Chris Theodore with 6:21 to go in the second period, and being outshot by a 2-to-1 ratio at the time, the Falcons could have folded their parachutes for the flight home. But they didn’t. Their 12-3 shots on goal edge in the third eventually led to Reim’s tally and a few other quality chances to tie the score. And this is from a lineup that included just five upperclassmen – Schilling, defensemen Zach Mirageas and Alex Mehnert and forwards Marshall Bowery (second assist on Reim’s goal) and Max Harper.

Stay out of the fray

The Falcons fought to a draw on the special teams front one day after this space made a point of emphasizing they couldn’t lose that battle as they did Friday and get away with it very often. And that took more effort on Saturday, when the teams combined for 17 penalties. Air Force cashed in on its fifth of six power plays. It had three man advantages in the first period alone. Conversely, aside from Theodore’s goal, which came on the third of Air Force’s three second-period penalty kills, the Falcons survived four other disadvantages.

History repeats itself?

Let’s hope this isn’t another season in which patchwork lines are the norm, but the Falcons’ lineup was so depleted that a defenseman (Andrew Kruse) and 2018 recruit who has not been on the roster in two seasons (Billy Duma) were in the lineup on Saturday. It was Kruse’s first collegiate game at wing. Air Force was without defenseman Jake Levin and forwards Shawn Knowlton and Keenan Lund (who had an assist Friday). In addition, two other players expected to be big contributors this season – center Luke Manning and defenseman Luke Rowe – are not currently listed on the roster even though they are enrolled at the Academy and practicing with the team. Requests for comment on the two sophomores’ status have been referred to the Academy’s Public Affairs office.

©First Line Editorial 2020