How would Air Force respond to one of its most resounding losses of the season to its biggest rival?

The answer came with an exclamation point – an overtime goal by Nate Horn – to send the Falcons to a 3-2 victory against Army West Point on Saturday night at Cadet Arena.

The triumph came one night after the wheels went off the runway during an 8-3 loss, which was the worst one by AFA in the series since 1996.

Saturday was a completely different story.

“We all knew last night we couldn’t have played much worse,” Horn said. “We shot ourselves in the foot. Coming into today it was a different mindset. They’re a really good team, really hard to play against. They play similar to how we do, so it was a chess match.”

The game had more of an Air Force-Army feel to it. No ground was given and very little was available for the taking. The team that played better was the one that likely was going to win.

“You can’t compare the two games,” Falcons head coach Frank Serratore said. “We had 15 shots on goal last night. … Tonight we had 40 shots. It wasn’t because West Point didn’t try. They came out and played just as hard tonight as they did last night. It was about us.

“Sometimes in life you have to take one step backward in order to take two steps forward. We took a major step backward last night but we took two major steps forward overcoming the adversity, finding a way to to get the win tonight.”

Sound the goal Horn

Horn’s seventh goal came as a result of an alert play by center Jake Marti, whose stretch pass from the Falcons goal line found Brandon Koch in the neutral zone and Horn keeping pace to Koch’s left.

Koch maneuvered into the Black Knights zone, got the lone Army defender back to commit and then hit Horn with goalie Gavin Abric (40 saves) playing the shot.

“They got caught on a bad change and it ended up the two right guys for us and the two wrong guys for them because Koch and Horn are pretty handy,” Serratore said. “It made my night, it made my day, it made my weekend.”

Horn was quick to credit his partners during the three-on-three session.

“It was just a great pass by Marti to send me and Kochie in on a 2-on-1,” the sophomore said. “Those guys did all the work, I was just the guy who got to tap it in.”

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— Air Force Hockey (@AF_HKY) January 30, 2022

Horn ties it up

Of course there is no overtime if Horn didn’t alertly score on a wraparound on Abric as one the Falcons’ three power plays was ending 4 minutes into the third period.

The first two periods had been relatively even, yet Air Force (10-12-2, 8-8-2 AHA) trailed 2-1 for more than 20 minutes of game time. The Falcons took over in the third, outshooting their guests 13-2. Frustration could have mounted but it didn’t.

“Toward the end (of the power play) we were trying to get pucks to the net, and it was just a wraparound that found its way in,” Horn said. “That was the bounce we needed because we were getting chances but nothing was going in. Their goalie was playing well.”

Army, take two

Another turning point came early in the second period when Army (10-12-3, 8-8-2) did exactly as it had Friday in scoring two quick goals. This time the Black Knights overcame an early deficit in 1:22 on co-captain Eric Butte‘s power-play goal from the slot and Joey Baez‘s waltz into the zone and shot from between the circles.

Baez was sprung by a nice stretch pass, ironically enough, from defenseman Andrew Quetell, who found the freshman at the Falcons blue flanked by two defensemen. Baez turned and headed in alone and shot upstairs on Alex Schilling.

“They’re a good team,” Serratore said. “We blinked early in the second period in a 1-0 game and it turned into a 2-1 game just like that.”

Redeeming play

Parker Brown was one of two Falcons who were assessed five-minute majors and game misconducts on Friday. The other, fellow forward Will Gavin, was scratched as a result of his major, which was assessed after he speared an Army player on his way to the bench.

Brown was in the lineup, and he staked the Falcons to an early lead for the second night in a row when he scored from the middle of Main Street just 2:56 into the game.

“There was a small puck battle between our guy Clayton Cosentino and one of the West Point guys,” Brown said. “And he ended up with it and poked it to me in the scoring square. I just fired it home. I didn’t even really look, I just shot the puck as hard as I could.”

The goal, Brown’s third of the season, had extra meaning for the sophomore.

“It was more mental than anything else for myself considering what happened last night, and the trouble I got myself into,” he said. “A lot of it was to prove to the rest of the guys that I’m here for you guys. I know I made a mistake, but trust me, I can come back and do whatever needs to be done to help the boys win.”

The last stand

At the conclusion of the series, the team’s seniors traditionally gather at center ice arm in arm while the schools’ songs are played. Schilling, often left on an island on Friday night, didn’t mind standing as an Army of one with his six West Point compatriots. The lone Falcons senior, Schilling played a strong game and made 23 saves.

He also felt some strong emotions afterward.

“It’s a special rivalry vs. Army West Point every time,” Schilling said. “We went out there my sophomore year, had two really tight games and unfortunately we couldn’t get it done. We had a stinker last night, so this was the last shot. You don’t know if you’re going to see them or not in playoffs. It meant a lot to get a win.

“(Standing at center ice after the game) is something I’ve never felt. It’s very special. I don’t get emotional but it was kind of an emotional moment. It was a bigger game than just a regular Atlantic Hockey game.”

Saturday was one game, but the entire weekend – good, bad, ugly – could serve as a launching pad.

“As painful as that was last night I would like something great to happen to this group down the road and say in the interview the best thing that ever happened to us was getting our ass kicked by West Point on a Friday night,” Serratore said. “It taught us we can’t let our guard down. We have to bring that mental and physical hard for every minute of every game. …

“We outshot them, and I thought we outplayed them. They don’t beat themselves.”

©First Line Editorial 2022