There wasn’t a full moon. The planets still appear to be in alignment. And it wasn’t April Fool’s Day.

So how do you explain Air Force allowing three shorthanded goals in an 8-1 loss to No. 20 Arizona State in the teams’ season opener on Friday night at Cadet Arena?

They were a large part of a special teams nightmare that saw the Falcons surrender five goals either up or down a man.

“You’re going to make some mistakes, but they can’t be nuclear. And we made some nuclear mistakes,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “They were much better than us. We had the majority of the power plays, and they scored three shorthanded goals, a couple (on) power plays.”

The special teams meltdown, coupled with goaltending struggles doomed Air Force.

Air Force’s Blessing Pulled

That Arizona State scored twice on power plays wasn’t that surprising because it had one of Division I’s top power plays last season (26.5 percent). And to the Falcons’ credit, they stayed out of the sin bin until the third period.

Goaltender Guy Blessing wasn’t around for that, however. Blessing was pulled 28 seconds into the third after Cullen Potter’s goal off a rush, the type of play Blessing saw too many of.

“You sure don’t want to blame your goalie in a situation like this but we gave up some breakaways,” Serratore said. “Goalies still need to stop breakaways.

“We need to play better and tidy a lot of things up, but we also need to get a couple of saves. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.”

The Falcons did a decent job in stretches of limiting ASU’s offensive chances, but when the Sun Devils got them, they often came off rushes if not full-on breakaways.

Blessing’s night ended after allowing five goals on 14 shots. Sophomore Carter Clafton gave up three goals on 10 shots, including both power-play markers.

Air Force Power Plays Fuel ASU’s Surge

Some miscues are to be expected from a young team (the Falcons dressed 12 underclassmen among their 19 skaters), but a 0-3 deficit on power plays?

The Sun Devils’ first shortie came during Air Force’s second power play. Defenseman Chris Hedden made an uncharacteristic unforced error when his pass from the top of the left circle was intercepted by Bennett Schimek, who beat two Falcons down the ice before scoring on Blessing 7:30 into the game.

Schimek struck again 5:26 into the second when defenseman Noah Beck found him with a stretch pass behind the Falcons’ D. Schimek added a power-play goal in the closing minutes off a rebound.

Clayton Cosentino’s goal on a backhand from the right dot after his pass hit an ASU defender and returned to him. That cut it to 3-1 about 3 minutes later.

FIRST GOAL OF THE SEASON!!

Courtesy of Clayton Cosentino. pic.twitter.com/HJgpQUqLe1

— Air Force Hockey (@AF_HKY) October 5, 2024

After Arizona State took its fifth consecutive penalty, Kyle Smolen scored the Sun Devils’ third shortie on a play eerily similar to Schimek’s second goal — a pass to a player charging into the AFA zone that split the Falcons’ D.

“One of the key things is we’ve got to get into some kind of 200-foot game with a rhythm,” Serratore said. “Some pucks that didn’t travel, that we didn’t get deep, they sensed and transitioned quickly.

“If we don’t get a puck deep somebody’s got to drop back with a player who takes off. If it’s a power play, the 5 on 4 turns into a 4 on 3, and we gave up several breakaways on that.”

A Few Silver Linings for Falcons

There were a few positives the Falcons can point to. They outshot the guests by four, limiting a veteran and skilled team to 24 shots on goal.

Air Force dominated on the dot, winning 36 of 59 face-offs (61 percent). It didn’t get undisciplined, taking just the two penalties to Arizona State’s six.

And the Falcons weren’t manhandled at even strength. That part of the game went 3-1.

Cosentino’s goal was offset by a reviewed first-period goal by Dylan Jackson. That tally was deemed good even though the net came off its moorings well before the puck went in. Potter and Cole Gordon had the other even-strength goals.

The age and experience disparity was pronounced. The youthful Falcons faced a veteran Sun Devils group. ASU dressed five grad students and five more upperclassmen. The Sun Devils had seven transfers from other D-I schools in their lineup and seven of their players have played more than 100 NCAA games. Air Force has three such players (Cosentino, fellow captain Austin Schwartz and Andrew DeCarlo).

Add it up, and we saw how thin Air Force’s margin for error is right now.

Air Force Honors Chad Demers

Air Force honored former captain and assistant coach Chad Demers, who passed away Thursday after a lengthy battle with cancer, with a moment of silence. Falcons players will wear a sticker with Demers’ initials on their helmets.

Demers played for Air Force from 2011-15, captaining the team during his senior season. His 156 games played is tied for the school record, and his 126 points are 24th on the Falcons’ career scoring list.

Notes

Longtime Air Force assistant Mike Corbett returned to Cadet Arena as a member of the Arizona State staff. Corbett, who left the Academy to take over Alabama Huntsville’s program in 2013, also was an assistant at Robert Morris and Quinnipiac. … DeCarlo moved from center to play left wing on a line with sophomores Owen Dubois and Ethan Ullrick. … Gibson Homer made 27 saves for Arizona State.

©First Line Editorial 2024