The patented second-half move is on.

Air Force jumped to a first-period lead for the third game in a row, and that harbinger of good things for the Falcons jump started a 5-2 Atlantic Hockey victory against Mercyhurst at Erie, Penn., on Friday night.

The Falcons (8-11-2, 6-7-2-2 AHA) got two goals from sophomore wing Will Gavin and single strikes from three freshmen – defenseman Mitchell Digby and forwards Lucas Coon and Clayton Cosentino. Senior co-captain Alex Schilling returned to the net and made 19 saves for Air Force, which outshot the hosts 45-21.

The victory was the third in the row for Air Force, which has climbed from ninth to fifth place in the AHA standings in the matter of two weekends. They trail fourth-place Sacred Heart by four points but have one game in hand. It’s a small sample size, but the Falcons are building momentum for one of their second-half runs toward the AHA penthouse.

Gavin snapped a nine-game goal drought when he struck twice in the first period, staking the Falcons to 1-0 and 3-1 leads on two laser beams over the shoulder of Kyle McLellan (40 saves). The second came directly off a face-off play with 9:02 to play in the period. Gavin’s first came just 4:28 in, but it was offset by Guerogui Fedulov‘s backdoor goal.

That Lakers goal lit a fire under the Falcons, who took the lead for good on Digby’s power-play goal with 9:17 left. The tally was Digby’s fourth in the past three games, and it came on a pass from Brandon Koch, who ended up with three assists.

Both Gavin (four assists) and Digby (three goals, one assist) were coming off four-point weekends in the sweep of Niagara, so it wasn’t a shock to see both come out on fire.

The Lakers (5-14-4, 3-8-4) drew to one midway through the third period on Rylee St. Onge‘s strike, but Cosentino, who also had three assists, made it 4-2 only 41 seconds later. That ended a 10-game scoreless streak for the second-line center.

Coon scored into an empty net with 1:21 to play.

Schilling had not played since the first period of the Falcons’ 4-3 loss at AIC, where he was pulled midway through the first period of that game after giving up three goals. Freshman Guy Blessing relieved him in that game and started both games of last weekend’s sweep against Niagara because Schilling spent nearly all week in Covid protocol.

The senior showed no signs of rust, making several point-blank saves, particularly while the Falcons were killing off all five Mercyhurst power plays. Air Force cashed in on just one of its eight man advantages.

The teams face off again Saturday at 2 p.m. MST.

©First Line Editorial 2022