Air Force Rides Wave, Defeats Army, 4-3, in OT

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Air Force scores a goal against ArmyPhoto courtesy of Russ Backer via Air Force Athletics

Posted By: FlightChief November 10, 2023

What would it be like if Air Force played a complete hockey game?

For most of Friday’s contest against Army West Point, we saw it. The Falcons closed off the neutral zone, limited Army’s rushes, won races to loose pucks and built a substantial shots-on-goal advantage.

That all changed in the closing minutes when the Black Knights erased a three-goal deficit to send the game into overtime. That’s when co-captain Luke Rowe scored a rebound goal — off his chest — of Chris Hedden’s shot with 16.9 seconds left to hand the Falcons a 4-3 Atlantic Hockey victory.

“That was a real tough situation we put ourselves in,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “We found a way to get it done. When it’s all said and done, we found a way to overcome adversity. We had a really good 55 minutes … but service academy teams don’t go away.”

Games don’t come a lot wilder than this one.

Falcons Force the Issue

Air Force (5-6-0, 2-1-0 Atlantic Hockey) got the start it wanted and sustained excellent pressure, really throughout the first two-and-a-half periods. The Falcons built a 29-9 shots-on-goal edge through 40 minutes and led 2-0 on goals by Will Gavin and Lucas Coon.

But there was a sense they could have — probably should have — led by more given how thoroughly they controlled the play.

“The key was the neutral zone,” Rowe said. “It was our bread and butter. Every play they tried to make through the middle we shut down.

“If we can take that system we had going in the neutral zone and shut down their rush we’ll be OK.”

Air Force didn’t give up much space in the middle of the ice for most of Friday’s 4-3 victory against Army. Photo courtesy of Russ Backer via Air Force Athletics

Rowe set up Gavin’s power-play goal just 4:09 into the game. Hedden made a seeing-eye cross-ice pass to Rowe in the left circle. Rowe found Gavin alone between the hash marks and the senior forward beat Evan Szary. The goal was Gavin’s team-high seventh, fourth in three games and sixth in six.

Coon scored on a rebound of linemate Nate Horn’s shot on a 2-on-1. In only his fourth game of the season, the junior scored for the second consecutive game.

“It was a big goal,” Coon said. “The shift before, me and Horn had a 2-on-1 nullified by an offsides (call). In between shifts, I told him, ‘We’re going to get rewarded.’ And we came back the next shift and got a similar look. He put the puck on the net, and I was just fortunate to be there and put it home. It felt really good, especially against Army.”

Then Came a Near Implosion

The Black Knights entered the game winless and featuring a young lineup (13 underclassmen, including seven freshmen). That’s a tough ask for any college hockey team, but particularly a service academy. It’s something Air Force knows all too well.

But give Army credit. It kept battling, and after co-captain Luke Robinson staked the Falcons to a 3-0 lead by finishing a tic-tac-toe play with Parker Brown and Clay Cosentino by driving the net, the visitors went to work.

Sophomore Max Itagaki scored on a line rush with 7:53 to go in regulation after a Falcons defenseman got caught pinching and the forwards didn’t backfill. At that point, Air Force had a 39-12 SOG margin.

Successive penalties by Nick Remissong and Hedden gave the Black Knights a 5-on-3 power play. Not a great situation because despite its record, Army leads AHA with a 25 percent power play.

Itagaki found Brent Keefer on Guy Blessing’s back door to make it 3-2 with 3:33 remaining. Army evened it up when defenseman John Driscoll scored from the left point with 43 seconds left on a play that was reviewed for goaltender interference.

“It was chaos,” Serratore said. “They kept pushing. We had plenty of opportunities to get pucks out and we didn’t.”

Added Rowe: “They came hard, scored two goals off the rush and then we took avoidable penalties and take a 5-on-3 goal against.

“We make it hard on ourselves sometimes. When you’re playing West Point they’re never going to go away. It’s a mistake of playing 57 out of 60 minutes hard. Tomorrow’s a new day, we’ll come back and get a full three points.”

Coon’s Comeback Trail

One of the heartening stories of this game was Coon’s play. He, Horn and Mason McCormick were a highly effective line, accounting for five shots, Air Force’s second goal and plenty of momentum.

The junior missed nearly all of the 2022-23 season after sustaining an ankle injury that eventually required surgery. His speed and puck protection skills, as well as defensive disruptiveness, were on display all game.

“It’s been a long road back, but I feel good,” he said. “Every day in practice I’ve been trying to simplify things, do everything the right way. Healthwise, I feel good especially when we have those types of games, adrenaline takes over. I don’t really feel anything in my ankle.”

Coon has battled a chronic ankle injury since he got to the Academy. He injured it a year ago this month and had surgery in January.

“I rehabbed it all summer, rehabbed it this fall and then I got into the lineup and just simplified my game,” Coon said. “I told Nate Horn – you play the right way, the goals will come. That was the message our line was trying to exemplify.”

Mission accomplished. Air Force’s next mission is to play that complete game on Saturday.

Notes

Air Force ended up with a 43-19 SOG advantage. … Each team had a power-play goal. Air Force had just three of its shots on its three power plays. … The teams play a rematch on Saturday at 5 p.m. Like Friday, the game is a sellout.

©First Line Editorial 2023

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