One night after erupting for six goals, Air Force was held to just one in a 4-1 loss to AIC on Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets scored the final four goals to split the Atlantic Hockey series.
Holt Oliphant scored and Guy Blessing made 19 saves for the Falcons (11-12-1, 8-5-1 AHA). Nils Wallstrom made 29 saves for AIC (13-10-1, 9-6-1), which got two goals from Alfred Lindberg. John Lundy added a power-play goal and two assists for the visitors.
Both teams had a player ejected in a penalty-filled contest. AIC’s Alexander Malinowski was assessed a major for contact to the head during the second period. Air Force co-captain Luke Rowe was given the gate after a hard hit on Brett Rylance early in the third period.
Power Outage Hurts Falcons
One of the differences in the game was the Falcons could not capitalize on any of their seven power plays. AIC struck on one of its five.
It was a game in which statistics lied to some degree. Not only did Air Force hold a 30-23 shots-on-goal edge, but it won the face-off battle (34-29) and had half again as many blocks (18-12).
Still, AIC was in control for long stretches and headed back to Massachusetts with a hard-earned road split.
Next: Air Force travels to Army West Point next weekend. The Falcons took five of six points from the Black Knights in Colorado Springs in November.
