Silence was golden in the third period Saturday, and Air Force nearly was as well.

Air Force nearly overcame a four-goal deficit in the final 10 and a half minutes in a 5-4 Atlantic Hockey loss to Bentley at Cadet Arena.

After officials whistled 14 penalties in the first two periods, there were none called in the third, when the hosts staged a spirited rally at even strength. Will Gavin, Brian Adams and Clayton Cosentino scored in an eight-minute span as Air Force (3-6-1, 1-2-1 AHA) cranked up its pressure and dictated play.

“This is the most physical team we’ve ever had. They’re not very big but they are physical,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “When they play a 200-foot game and get into people they’re not fun to play against. It was not an accident what happened at the end.”

The hosts finished with a 16-8 shots on goal edge in the third and 42-31 for the game.

Lucas Vanroboys‘ goal on a 2-on-1 rush 4:35 into the third followed a familiar script for Bentley, which also scored its first two goals on odd-man chances. That made it 5-1, and it appeared to be lights out for Air Force.

But not so fast.

“Once the penalties stopped and the refs put the whistles away it seemed like a completely different game,” AFA co-captain Luke Rowe said. “That early one in the third period kind of hurt, but we have a very positive group. Everyone stays loud and stays energetic, and we just try to get the next one.”

Gavin started the rally when he stuffed in a rebound of his own shot past Jason Grande (38 saves) at the goalie’s right skate with 10:30 to play. Linemate Parker Brown, who had tallied his first NCAA goal 8:50 into the second period, started the play with an aggressive forecheck to get the puck loose. Austin Schwartz got the puck to Gavin in front of Grande, and the sophomore netted his team-high sixth goal of the season.

An excellent hold in by freshman Andrew DeCarlo at the offensive blue line triggered Air Force’s next goal, which landed just 93 seconds later. His pass found Blake Bride, who tipped it to Adams, who ripped it past Grande from between the circles.

Air Force pulled Alex Schilling (26 saves) with about 3 and a half minutes left, and it turned up the pressure further. Seconds after Mitchell Digby hit the crossbar with a shot, Cosentino cleaned up a Bennett Norlin shot, again on Grande’s right doorstep, to make it a one-goal game with 2:38 remaining.

Air Force had several more chances in the closing minutes.

“This is the DNA of this team, this is the way they’ve got to play,” Serratore said. “They’ve got to play hard, they’ve got to play physical.

“In that third period, we started taking bodies, bodies, bodies. They started arriving late to pucks, or they get to a puck and they just throw it because they know they’re going to get hit. Do you think it was an accident what happened? Not at all. It was a result of how hard and physical we were playing.

“We’re not saying you can slash guys and take stupid penalties and cross check, just play good hard hockey within the framework of the game.”

Penalties dominated the second period

The third-period performance was a dramatic departure from an aggravating first two periods, which were more a special teams practice than a game.

Air Force had stretches of pressure, but it couldn’t sustain them while it wore a trench in the ice to the penalty box. It took eight in the first two periods, but the guests weren’t a lot better, taking six of their own.

The difference was Bentley (5-6, 3-3) cashed in on two of its opportunities, including Matt Gosiewski‘s 5-on-3 strike 5:39 into the second period. Matt Lombardozzi scored for the second night in a row on the power play a little over seven minutes later to build the Bentley lead to 4-1.

“(At the second intermission) I said, ‘If you guys want to see the enemy, go look in the mirror.’ We did that to ourselves,” Serratore said.

The second-period fireworks weren’t limited to goals. A blatant hook by a Bentley player went uncalled late in the frame and incited the wrath of Air Force coaches, players and fans alike.

To the credit of both teams, there wasn’t an escalation or even a carryover to the third.

Setting the tone early

The parade to the sin bin started early, with each team taking a penalty before the game was even 3 minutes old. That was the start of a combined seven infractions in the period.

Bentley proved opportunistic in taking a 2-0 lead despite being outshot 14-8 and having to kill off four of those penalties. Both tallies came on odd-man chances.

“It was frustrating when we gave them out-numbered situations they got easy goals on or we take a dumb retaliation penalty or we turn a puck over at the blue line and give them a breakaway,” Serratore said. “They’re self-inflicted wounds. Where did they impose their will on us?”

On the first, an AFA defenseman skated low in the visitors’ zone with the puck. When Bentley gained possession, a forward was late getting back, and Gosiewski cashed in on a 2-on-1, taking a feed from the left and scoring from the right circle.

The second strike, with 11 seconds left, came when Cole Kodsi fielded a stretch pass as he exited the penalty box after Bentley killed off a 4-on-3. Rowe played the passing lane, and Kodsi walked into the right circle and beat Schilling high and to the stick side.

Notes

DeCarlo had his first multi-point game of his NCAA career and three assists for the weekend. … Gavin has all of his goals in the past six games. He also picked up his first assist of the season Brown’s goal. … Cosentino won an incredible 28 of 34 face-offs (82 percent) on the weekend. … Juniors Ty Pochipinski and Dalton Weigel remained sidelined with injuries for the third game in a row. Freshman Jasper Lester rotated in as the seventh defenseman and played quite a bit down the stretch on Saturday. … Air Force plays its next six games at home, including four in a row vs. Sacred Heart starting next Friday.

©First Line Editorial 2021