Every time Air Force faced adversity Saturday night it overcame it, and as a result the Falcons enter their four-week holiday break with their most successful series of the first half.
Air Force tied Canisius, 3-3, but it picked up the extra Atlantic Hockey point when Will Gavin scored the only goal in a three-round shootout at Cadet Arena.
Combined with Friday’s 5-2 win the Falcons earned five of six points on the weekend.
“When you win your last game going into the holiday break it’s so much more enjoyable,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said.
Just as they did Friday, the Falcons (5-9-2, 3-5-2 AHA) held the high-scoring Golden Griffins (8-7-1, 5-4) mostly in check. Canisius came into the series as Atlantic Hockey’s top-scoring team, averaging eight goals per series. They tallied just five vs. Air Force. Canisius also led the league with slightly more than 30 shots on goal per game; vs. the Falcons they averaged fewer than 20.
Schilling stays calm and goalies on
Air Force goaltender Alex Schilling (21 saves) was particularly sharp down the stretch after Canisius scored an odd goal to tie regulation for the final time. Austin Alger‘s shot from the top of the left circle hit and broke a defender’s stick. The puck floated in the air and landed behind Schilling, who was out playing the angle.
From there Schilling slammed the door, including two great stops in the final minute of overtime and a third save that he swallowed up and allowed the Falcons to get a line change.
“I can’t say enough good things about his play,” Gavin said. “There’s nothing he could on that last goal. It was a fluke shot. It probably couldn’t happen again in a hundred more shots like that. He’s unbelievable.”
Schilling stopped Alger (stick save), Mitchell Martan (poke check) and Keaton Mastrodonato (stick save) in the shootout, while Gavin beat John Hawthorne (33 saves) on Air Force’s first attempt of the shootout. Gavin said he got a pointer from director of hockey Chad Demers beforehand.
“I talked to coach Demers before, and he told me shoot low blocker,” Gavin said. “So that was my game plan the whole time. I just wanted to pull him out and shoot wide, and it worked.”
Assistant captain Willie Reim gave Air Force only its fourth first goal of a game in 16 starts. That led to only the second Saturday game in seven in which the Falcons gained points.
“I think we go into Saturdays with our same game plan, same mentality,” Gavin said. “I think a lot of Saturdays the bounces haven’t gone our way. Tonight we got the first one and just kept going. We’re happy to finally get one on Saturday.”
Forwards Brian Adams and Lucas Coon also scored in regulation.
Canisius pushes back
The Golden Griffins came out far more aggressive in a second period that featured four goals. The takeaway was the Falcons are growing more confident because twice Canisius tied the score, and twice Air Force untied it in short order.
David Melargni cashed in a long rebound from the left circle after a shot from the right side 9 minutes in to make it 1-1. At that point Canisius had outshot the hosts 8-2 in the period, requiring Schilling to make a couple of point-blank saves and another dandy or two on one of the Griffins’ five power plays.
Just 13 seconds later Adams collected a rebound between the circles and sent it past Hawthorne to re-establish the Falcons’ lead.
It was reminiscent of Andrew Kruse‘s goal on Friday. In both cases the Falcons’ fourth line sparked the team.
“Our fourth line was arguably one of our best lines this weekend,” Reim said. “Whenever (Canisius) scored, they came out and we’d get the momentum right back. Words can’t (express) how much that means. Last night they scored right after Canisius scored, and it was the same thing tonight. We needed that.”
About three minutes after that, Canisius’ top line got untracked when Alex Ambrosio cashed in from Schilling’s left door step off a nice feed from Martan below the goal line.
But 1:08 later Coon finished a beautiful cycle play from the low slot to make it 3-2. Bennett Norlin controlled the puck below the goal line. As he headed right, Jake Marti came left, took the puck and found Coon wide open.
Reim’s goal came on a third chance. Nate Horn started the play when he chipped the puck just past a Canisius defender to send Clayton Cosentino in alone on Hawthorne. The junior made the first save, then another when Cosentino got to his rebound. The second rebound went to Reim in the right circle, and the junior assistant captain wasted no time scoring and triggering the return of the Teddy Bear Toss.
Reim’s strike was his third in a row over a span of two games and gave him four goals for the season.
“I think it’s the belief in Horny and Decs,” Reim said. “I have two great linemates. They really made it easy for me.”
Penalty kill keeps it going
The Falcons killed off five more penalties, giving them a run of 31 successful kills in a row. One has to go back seven games, to the second game of the Bentley series, to find an opponent who has scored a power-play goal.
“Our penalty kill has been great,” Serratore said. “This team has a group of strong-willed young men. They get after it, they’re aggressive. We’re never out of a game.”
©First Line Editorial 2021
