Time for Air Force to regroup.
The Falcons return home for another Atlantic Hockey series against Holy Cross next weekend on a 1-4-1 slide in league play, a skid greased by consecutive two-goal losses at Mercyhurst over the weekend and three defeats overall.
Saturday’s 4-2 defeat came with a somewhat different cast (forwards Blake Bride, Liam Hansson and Ty Pochipinski entered the lineup), but it followed a familiar pattern. Fall behind in the first period, work hard to get back into the game but never quite catch up.
Another trend? Offense has been hard to come by. After 36 goals in the first 10 games (3.6 per game), the Falcons have scored just 12 in the past six (2.0).
Saturday review
A late first-period goal and an early-second period tally staked Mercyhurst to a 2-0 lead. The Falcons got back into it 1:10 later on a nice individual effort by senior defenseman Brandon Koch, who maintained possession of the puck deep in the Lakers zone before finding Nate Horn in the slot. Horn scored his team-high sixth.
The Lakers then dented Guy Blessing (26 saves) for a third goal with 3 minutes left and got an insurance marker 5:26 into the third for a 4-1 lead. Luke Rowe halved the lead with 7:38 to go, and the Falcons benefitted from a Lakers major penalty in the final five minutes but could not close the gap despite pulling Blessing and operating with a 6-on-4 advantage.
The Falcons outshot the Lakers (5-9-2, 4-2-2), 40-30, including a massive 19-7 advantage in the third period.
Friday review
The Lakers scored twice in the first six minutes, led 3-1 after the first period and never looked back.
Freshman defenseman Chris Heddon scored his first career goal, and Parker Brown and Austin Schwartz also tallied for Air Force, which outshot Mercyhurst 37-30. Blessing made 20 saves in two periods, and Maiszon Balboa added five in the third period.
You can read more about the loss on the team’s official page.
©First Line Editorial 2022
