Maybe every night should be Senior Night.

On a night when Air Force absolutely, positively had to emerge with points if it was to attain it’s oft-repeated goal of a first-round bye in the Atlantic Hockey playoffs, the Falcons’ lone senior put his teammates on his back and delivered his best performance of the season at the most clutch of times.

Goaltender Alex Schilling, as mild-mannered as guardians of the net come, punctuated his home career at Air Force with 22-save gem for his first shutout of the season, a 1-0 victory over a skilled, veteran RIT team that also had playoff positioning on its mind.

Sophomore Nate Horn, just as he did last month against Army West Point on a Saturday night, ended the game with 40 seconds left in overtime, tipping Brandon Koch‘s cross-slot pass past Tigers freshman Tommy Scarfone, who made 33 unblemished saves in the game’s first 64 minutes.

And speaking of Army West Point, that’s who the Falcons will travel to face in two weeks for a best-of-3 quarterfinal series. The Black Knights, who throttled AFA, 8-3, one night before Horn’s previous OT heroics wrapped up third in Atlantic Hockey by virtue of gaining a point against Sacred Heart on Saturday afternoon and RIT not picking up more than one at Cadet Arena.

“What a special night. It didn’t even feel like senior night,” Schilling understated. “The only thing on my mind and on the boys’ mind was getting the bye. We couldn’t be more excited to have a week off and go out to West Point. … I try and do my very best for the boys in front of me.”

Exciting yes. This after all means a renewal of Division I’s service-academy rivalry, which it says here is the best one in the game. But the trip to New York State won’t be a walk in Central Park; it never is.

“Going into Army is going to be a massive challenge, but it’s a challenge we embrace,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “I would rather be going to Army and have bye to the quarterfinals than have to play somebody in a best-of-3 series just to get there.

“We won a game tonight, we blew a game last night (3-2 in overtime). We blew a game last Saturday. If that’s the playoffs, we don’t even get to this game because we blew the last two. We’re not going to get any mulligans at West Point.”

Alex the great

What the Falcons got was a solid team game on the heels of Friday’s startling turn of events. That began with Schilling, the only goalie during Serratore’s 25-year tenure to wear a captain’s C. He was honored before the game with his parents on the ice, and after the game, with his coach on a mic on the ice.

“Everyone knows tonight’s his night and we needed to show up for him,” co-captain Luke Rowe said. “He shows up every night, he makes saves but sometimes we over-rely on him. We just need to do a little more to eliminate our mistakes and not make him make these highlight-reel saves. We needed to be strong in front of him.

“I thought guys did a great job blocking shots and getting clears on kills, clearing pucks in front of the net, it was a five-man group effort. I’m really happy for that, and happy for Schills he got a shutout in his final Air Force (home) game.”

Air Force unquestionably played a tighter game. Not only did it allow just the 22 shots on goal (same as Friday), but just two of them came during RIT’s four power plays.

“(The penalty kill) did fantastic all weekend,” Schilling said. “That was an emphasis item coming in with their skilled power play. For our penalty kill to get the results it did was huge.”

But make no mistake, a goaltender has to be his team’s best penalty killer, and even if Schilling didn’t see a lot of rubber in those instances, he still faced a few high-danger chances. Although there were fewer of those than Friday.

“I could just see how dialed in Alex was,” said Serratore, who coaches the Falcons’ goalies. “I told (director of hockey operations Chad Demers) on the bench as we neared overtime, ‘Schills isn’t going to allow us to lose this game.’

“Both goaltenders had been very good. We’re going to get two points somehow. They’re not going to beat him tonight. … I was proud of him.”

Horn of plenty

The two points also came courtesy of a player who is developing a knack for clutch play. Horn has three-game winners in the second half of the season, and this was his second in overtime.

“It seems like a broken record but I was just in a lucky spot and Koch made an unbelievable pass,” said Horn of his 11th goal of the season. “I’m thankful for him. … I’m just the lucky guy to tap it in. It’s a fun way to cap off the regular season. Going into West Point it couldn’t be a better way.”

Didn’t someone once say luck is where preparation meets opportunity? That axiom seems to apply in this case.

“He’s so poised and patient in front of the net,” Rowe said. “The way he’s able to take the puck with three guys on his back, goalie square in front of him, move it to the other side and put it away is just a skill he practices and works on, and it pays off for him. I’d say it has nothing to do with luck.”

Clutch goal prowess aside, the affable winger again displayed a well-rounded game, and an uncommon durability, even absorbing a Rowe missile from the point and missing nary a shift.

“He’s a good hockey player,” Serratore said. “If Nate was 5-11 and 185 pounds (he’s maybe 160), he’d probably be an NHL draft choice and playing for the Minnesota Gophers.

“He’s slight of frame, but he’s courageous, he’s got a big heart. Other than him being slight of frame, he has no weakness in his game. He’s got a great hockey IQ, he’s got a great skill level. He competes like a madman. He’s an absolute joy to have in our locker room. He’s a terrific teammate.

“I’d take a hundred of him.”

Battle mode

Horn’s competitiveness was replicated up and down the Falcons’ lineup Saturday. And it came on the heels of a meltdown on Friday that could have torpedoed the rest of the season.

“We always say in the room you’re as good as you respond,” Rowe said. “We needed a bigger response. A 0-0 game with a very offensive team in RIT. Their power play is very good, they move the puck extremely well. Our kill was fantastic. We didn’t give them much. Our energy was high.

“We had a team meeting this morning airing out what we thought we needed to do differently and what we needed to do to get the job done. Didn’t get three, but we got two, which is all we needed. We’re on a high going into West Point. We couldn’t be more excited.”

By Chris Bayee, Founder of AFAFlightPath.com

©First Line Editorial 2022