Air Force made the most of a Monday matinee game, overcoming a third-period Bentley rally and capping its first victory of the season on Willie Reim‘s overtime goal at Waltham, Mass.
Reim’s end-to-end play during the three-on-three extra session culminated the most complete effort of the season by Air Force (1-9-1), which has played nine of its first 11 games on the road.
Reim’s score came with 1:46 to play in OT. The Falcons, who got 24 saves from junior goaltender Alex Schilling, will have plenty of time to savor their first win in 10 months. Next weekend’s series at Holy Cross was postponed because the Crusaders paused their season due to a Covid concern.
Here are three observations from Air Force’s win:
The chase is over
Monday’s game marked just the fourth time this season that Air Force scored first in a game. For a program that has spent a vast majority of its season chasing the scoreboard that was a massive development.
Freshman Thomas Daskas, who is centering an increasingly potent top line with Reim and senior Shawn Knowlton, struck 4:37 in. But Bentley (3-6-0) knotted the score 1:07 later courtesy of Luke Santerno. That deadlock remained in place until early in the third, when sophomore Blake Bride returned the lead to Air Force 1:09 in.
This time the margin lasted nearly 8 minutes, but Bentley flipped the script in stunning fashion, bagging two goals in 1:11, the second by Matt Gosiewski with 9:50 to play. That strike came with Air Force killing a penalty, a scenario that has been a thorn in the Falcons’ claws all season.
No quit
Yet Air Force persevered. And one has to wonder if Sunday’s three-goal, third-period outburst to make a game out of what had been a 4-0 deficit added confidence to the bench of blue jerseys.
The resilience we’ve seen in stretches, sometimes extended ones, paid off on Monday.
Junior Ty Pochipinski, who had one career goal to his credit, answered 56 seconds after the hosts had seized their first lead to even it up and set the stage for a furious finish, one that included Air Force needing to kill off a late too many men penalty. The call came when the puck confused the Falcons’ bench with a rest stop during a line change.
Alex the great
However, puck luck decided to pack for Colorado Springs, and its chauffeur was Schilling, who turned in his best performance of the season.
The junior fought off odd-man rushes and other prime scoring chances in a body of work that much more closely resembled his form of last season. His rebound control improved and his ever-present calm remained unchanged. Schilling’s play clearly emboldened his teammates, including Reim, whose finishing move was nothing short of a Hulk Hogan atomic leg drop in its effectiveness and impact.
But this was a two-way street.
Schilling was aided by a season-high offensive outburst. Not only were Air Force’s four goals a high water mark, but they launched 37 shots at Bentley goalie Fraser Kirk (33 saves).
Young teams (Air Force dressed just seven upperclassmen out of 21 in its lineup) take time to gel, and it’s easy to forget that while the calendar says February, the players’ body clocks are still in November in this abbreviated season.
It’s one game, but if Air Force is finding its stride, it’s easier to see potential in what has been a bizarre and disjointed season.
©First Line Editorial 2021
