A determined Air Force team held serve against No. 11 Denver for the first 39 minutes on Friday night, but late-period Pioneers goals in the second and third doomed the Falcons to a 4-1 non-conference loss at Cadet Arena.

Goaltender Alex Schilling was masterful against the Pioneers, stopping shot after shot, en route to a 42-save effort. Freshman center Clayton Cosentino scored the first goal of his NCAA career on a last-second rebound, and Air Force asserted pressure game throughout.

“That’s the most talented team that we’ve played in a lot of years,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said. “(Fans) had to have a deep respect for the effort our young team put forth tonight. We tried very hard. The guys in blue weren’t fun to play against, and that’s what we’ve got to be game in and game out.”

Here are three observations from what was a very intense and exciting game, particularly for an early season matchup:

Who was that masked man?

Schilling played exceptionally well. He stopped breakaways, point-blank shots, rebounds, one-timers, you name it.

A few examples:

• Early in the second period, Denver’s talented top line, which features three of the Pioneers’ 11 NHL Entry Draft picks, had an outnumbered attack down low and Schilling stoned them twice.
• With 8:50 left in the second, Schilling stopped what was essentially a four on one.
• Two minutes later he poke checked the puck away from another draft pick, Carter Mazur, on a breakaway.
• Early in the third he made a change of direction glove save on senior Brett Stapley, yet another draft pick. And on it went.

“Without him it’s such a different game,” Falcons co-captain Luke Rowe said. “Some of the saves he made were highlight reel saves. He was dialed into today. Things he should not have saved he stopped. We need to help him out more.”

Schilling’s effort made quite an impression on Denver as well.

“Schilling, it seemed like the only way we were going to beat him was on the power play,” Denver coach David Carle said. “Both of them are one timers. … We got him moving. The other two are net-front goals where we showed some hunger for those goals. We certainly had chances off the rush and the right guys, (Carter) Savoie, (Bobby) Brink, Mazur. … He was seeing the puck really well tonight. It was hard to beat him.”

Study in contrasts

Perhaps nothing illustrated the contrast between the teams than their first-period power-play goals. After a clean first 12 minutes, the Falcons took the first penalty when forward Blake Bride tripped defenseman Shai Buium with 8:17 to play near the left boards.

Denver’s top unit took 57 seconds to cash in. Savoie got his second of the season when he took a cross-ice pass from DU captain Cole Guttman and one timed an off wing shot from the right dot past Schilling at 7:20.

Air Force, which continued keep up its pressure, drew the next two penalties, both coming in the final 3:39 of the period. The first Falcons power play was relatively lackluster as the Pioneers kept them outside and broke up several passes to facilitate clears.

Air Force flipped the script on Denver’s second penalty, an interference call on Antti Tuomisto with 1 minute to play. The Falcons maintained zone time and eventually got a series of shots on Chrona from in close. Cosentino located some open real estate on the back door and the puck found him on a third or fourth chance with .8 of a second left.

Tie ballgame using two very different methods.

“They outshot us, they’ve got great puck skill, talent, speed, deceptiveness,” Serratore said. “Their defensemen broke a couple of our guys down in our zone coverage.

“We hung in there, we went up and down with them. I liked our spirit, I liked our physicality.”

Minding the details

Great goaltending was a given for the Falcons to have a chance to win, and they got that from Schilling.

“He needs to be our best player game-in and game-out, and he more than gave us a chance,” Serratore said. “In order to win a game you have to be able to at least win one period. We tied that first period, scoring late. They outscored us 1-0 in the second. It’s 2-1 going into the third, we’ve got to win a period to win a game and we didn’t get it done. But Alex did everything in his power to give us a chance.”

Air Force also needed to be very good on its details to have a chance, and for the most part it was. They limited their penalties to two, although both ended up in the back of the net.

They played physically and with urgency all game. And until the third period they held serve on the face-off dot, a vitally important consideration vs. an elite puck possession team.

“Penalties hurt us. They out special teamed us,” Rowe said. “The penalties we took I didn’t think were awful. You never want to be a man down against a team as good as Denver.

“Our grit and determination is hard for teams to handle. We don’t need to re-invent the wheel to give ourselves a chance.”

Serratore noted one more thing the Falcons have to change: “That’s the fourth game in a row where we’ve given up the first goal. We’ve got to find a way to score the first goal in some of these games and find a way to play with the lead.”

Notes

Bride, a junior assistant captain, made his season debut and skated on a line with freshman center Lucas Coon and sophomore left wing Brian Adams. Bride underwent offseason surgery. … Coon and fellow freshman Andrew DeCarlo picked up assists on Cosentino’s goal. Those also were their first NCAA points. … The teams play again Saturday at 7 p.m. at Magness Arena in Denver.

©First Line Editorial 2021