Air Force battled back once, but Canisius made sure there wouldn’t be a second time in a 5-3 victory at Cadet Arena that split the Atlantic Hockey series.
The Golden Griffins took 2-0 and 3-2 leads in the first period, and the Falcons spent the rest of the game trying to battle back.
“They were playing with a sense of urgency,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore told AM1300 after the game. “Give them credit, that wasn’t the team that came out last night. They deserved to win.”
Tale Of Two Games
Saturday’s loss came on the heels of one of the Falcons’ most dominant performances of the season, a 5-1 rout that might not have been that close.
Game 2 was a different story.
The Falcons surrendered the next two goals after tying the score at 2. Trey Funk struck with 25 seconds to go in the first. Randy Hernandez made it 4-2 just 4:20 into the second. Stefano Bottini sealed the outcome with an empty-net goal with 51 seconds left.
The Falcons showed some fight after Canisius’ leading scorers Jackson Decker and Matteo Giampa tallied in the game’s first 13:29.
Senior defenseman Sam Brennan scored his second of the season with 5:22 to go. Senior forward Will Gavin scored his 17th overall and fourth of the weekend about three minutes later on a power play. Junior center Andrew DeCarlo closed the gap to 4-3 with a shorthanded goal with 3:59 to play, but the Falcons got no closer.
“Our guys better learn (their) lessons,” Serratore said. “It’s hard to turn games. We didn’t match their intensity.”
The Falcons (14-13-1, 11-6-1) dropped to fourth place in AHA, one point behind next weekend’s opponent, Holy Cross. Goaltender Guy Blessing made 26 saves.
©First Line Editorial 2024
