Air Force escaped with an all-important Atlantic Hockey point Saturday, giving it four for the weekend, but it had a good chance to come away with even more at Waltham, Mass.
Air Force twice surrendered leads, the final time with 2:30 left in regulation, in a 4-4 with Bentley. The hosts picked up an extra point for winning the shootout in the fourth round.
Still, the point kept Air Force (12-15-3, 10-11-3 AHA) in sixth place, the cutoff point for one of the conference’s first-round playoff byes. AFA is four points behind fourth-place RIT, next weekend’s opponent at Cadet Arena, but just one point up on seventh-place Bentley and two up on eight-place Niagara. The seventh- and eighth-place finishers play host to first-round AHA series in two weeks.
Four players scored goals for Air Force, and Alex Schilling made 27 saves in a game full of momentum swings.
The difference was Bentley (12-16-2, 10-12-2) scored late-period goals in all three regulation frames.
Air Force got the first goal for the second night in a row when center Andrew DeCarlo kicked off a freshman scoring parade. Taking a stretch pass from Luke Rowe, DeCarlo skated in alone on Nicholas Grabko (25 saves) and beat him with a beautiful shot from the right circle over the blocker and inside the far post with 1:47 to go in the first period.
But Bentley evened it up on the first of defenseman Luke Orysiuk‘s two goals a minute later. Orysiuk collected a puck along the wall, skated around the left circle and fired a shot from the high slot into the net.
Orysiuk struck again on a slap shot from the right point 3:57 into the second to give Bentley its only lead.
Air Force then blitzed Grabko with three goals in 4:56. Clayton Cosentino, another freshman center, got behind the Bentley defense, took a pass from Parker Brown and beat Grabko 4:46 in to tie. Freshman defenseman Mitchell Digby gave Air Force the lead back 1:32 later on a shot from the high slot. The goals were the sixth of the season for Cosentino and Digby.
Sophomore wing Brian Adams made it 4-2 when he scored on a breakaway with 10:18 left in the second. But Bentley drew to on with 3:45 to go when Harrison Scott reached around a sprawled Schilling to make it 4-3.
That’s how it stayed until 2:30 remained in regulation. After a mad scramble in front of the Air Force net in which Schilling made at least three saves, the puck moved out between the circles, where Brendan Hamblet found it and fired it over the prone goalie.
Neither team scored in overtime. After Will Gavin and Matt Gosiewski traded shootout goals in the first round, no one scored again until Lucas Vanroboys tallied on Bentley’s fourth turn.
Notes: Just three penalties were called, one on Air Force, and neither team scored on their power plays.
©First Line Editorial 2022
