Air Force played Atlantic Hockey’s first-place team tight on Friday night, but fell to RIT, 3-1, at Rochester, N.Y.
Here are three takeaways from the loss in the Falcons’ penultimate game of the season:
Scoring machine emerges?
You can’t stop Falcons senior Bennett Norlin, you can only hope to slow him down. The forward scored for the second game in a row – matching his career output over his first three seasons at the Academy. The goal was his career-high third of the season.
A strong defensive player and penalty killer, Norlin scored on a nice cross-slot pass from fellow senior Ty Pochipinski to tie the score late in the first period. After a slow start, Air Force (12-21-2, 8-16-1 AHA) played very well over the final 10 minutes of the first period.
RIT (21-11-1) had taken the initial lead on Gianfranco Cassaro’s power-play goal from the right circle. Cassaro one-timed the puck past Maiszon Balboa, who was starting for the first time in five games and made 20 saves.
If it wasn’t for bad luck …
Air Force would have no luck at all this season. Tanner Andrew gave RIT a 2-1 lead early in the second period, and the sophomore forward iced the game on a strange play midway through the third.
He and Falcons defenseman Luke Robinson battled for the puck behind the Air Force net. It popped free to the left of the goalie. An Air Force player tried to clear it from the slot, it hit Andrew and bounced past Balboa into the net.
The Falcons also had a goal disallowed in the first period. Willie Reim was sent into the Tigers’ zone alone and scored on a nice backhand over Tommy Scarfone (30 saves). The RIT coaches quickly called for a video review, and Reim was ruled to have been offsides on the play.
Falcons keep fighting
Air Force brought a depleted lineup to Rochester, and it was further depleted by the scratches of junior wing Will Gavin, one of the team’s leading scorers, and freshman center Mason McCormick.
But the Falcons battled all game, and it was a testament to their collective will that they were able to play AHA’s top team so closely. Until Andrew’s second goal, it was anyone’s game.
Notes: Former Falcons standout Eric Ehn was this week’s inductee into the Atlantic Hockey Hall of Honor. Ehn, who was the league’s first All-American and Hobey Baker Hat Trick Finalist in 2007, had 64 points that season, which is still a league record. Air Force won the conference playoff championship and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the program’s history.
He joins goaltender Andrew Volkening and forward Jacques Lamoureux as the Falcons’ other inductees.
©First Line Editorial 2023
