How would Air Force respond to a Friday to forget?

By turning the tables on Colorado College in every way imaginable. The result was a 6-3 Air Force victory on Saturday night at Cadet Arena that was one of the Falcons’ most complete games in recent memory.

The Falcons (3-4-1) got scoring from up and down their lineup, solid goaltending, and exceptional special teams play one night after that department melted down in an 8-0 dismantling at Colorado College.

“Tonight was everything last night wasn’t,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “Give our guys credit, we bounced back.

“We needed a response, and to be able to get a response and have it result in a solid win, I couldn’t ask for more.”

Falcons’ defense doesn’t rest

Senior defenseman Brandon Koch scored two goals, and freshman defenseman Chris Heddon added three assists. Junior forward Will Gavin gave the Falcons an all-important first goal of the game just 2:42 in.

Everyone had a hand in the Falcons’ strong defensive effort, but the five defensemen left standing at the end of the game stepped up in particular.

Colorado College generated 29 shots on goal, and Air Force blocked 13 more – including one that hit Luke Robinson in the head and ended his night early in the second period. That came on the heels of co-captain Luke Rowe also leaving the game due to injury.

So Koch, Heddon, fellow freshman Brett Oberle, sophomore Mitchell Digby and senior Andrew Kruse, who missed the Falcons’ first six games due to injury, were it for nearly all of the final 40 minutes.

“You have to give credit to everyone on that bench, just eating shots,” said Gavin, who also had an assist on Koch’s first goal. “Robby took one to the head, that kind of summed up the night, everyone was willing. I think all of the D had blocked shots. That just speaks to the character of this group, everyone being willing to do what it takes to win.

“We lost two big pieces there. A lot of guys stood up tonight. Chris Heddon stood up big time, Oberle stood up big time. A lot of credit to those freshmen.”

As important as the defensive contributions were, it’s worth noting the defense figured in five of the Falcons’ six goals as well.

“We got punched in the mouth last night, and we had to get back into our game. I think we did that tonight,” Koch said. “Not too often you have to play with five D unless you’re back in Squirts and Pee Wees as a youth. We embraced it. Obviously losing Rower and Robby was a tall task.”

Koch struck twice on the power play in a 2:20 span midway through the second period.

“We did well passing the puck up and retrieving pucks,” Koch said. “They got out of place and I found a few pucks in the slot, and you can’t turn those down too often.”

Air Force’s special teams turned out to be special

Among the most prominent disasters on Friday was Air Force’s special teams performance or lack thereof.

The Falcons surrendered four power-play goals while giving the Tigers nine man advantages. They compounded it by going 0-for-3 on the power play.

Fast forward to Saturday, Air Force capitalized on three of five power plays – including Koch’s two second-period goals and Andrew DeCarlo’s late in the first period that put Air Force ahead for good. The Falcons also killed off all five of the Tigers’ PPs.

“We didn’t take any nuclear bad penalties,” Serratore said. “There was a calmness among our guys.”

That was particularly true during the third period when Air Force had to kill off back-to-back penalties midway through a period in which the Tigers outshot them 11-5.

“Gotta give a lot of credit to the guys killing, they did a hell of a job tonight, and that’s a big reason we won,” Gavin said.

Goalie Guy Blessing rebounded from a rough Friday and a trying first period to pick up the win. He made 26 saves.

Wild first period foreshadows the Falcons’ rebound

The Falcons needed just 2:42 to accomplish something they couldn’t on Friday – score a goal. Gavin finished a two-on-one with Clayton Cosentino from between the circles. Parker Brown initiated the play with a hard back check in the neutral zone, picking a Tigers player’s pocket and tapping the puck to Cosentino near the Tigers line.

That was just a warm-up for a crazy sequence that saw three more goals scored in 1:04.

Stanley Cooley knotted the score off a nice feed from Gleb Veremyev below the goal line 5:20 in. Only 31 seconds later, Heddon, stationed near the boards by the circle to Vernon’s left found the man covering for him at the point, center Mason McCormick, sliding down the slot. CC responded 33 seconds after that when Logan Will pulled up at the left circle on a semi-breakaway and whistled a shot past Blessing.

“A big thing in the locker room was not getting too high, not getting too low,” Koch said. “We dealt with some adversity yesterday. We knew were were going to deal with some of that today. We get one early, they get one right back. That adversity kicked in, and we were a lot better dealing with it.

“There wasn’t a lot that needed to be said. We all knew what we were capable of.”

DeCarlo gave the Falcons a longer lead when he broke the 2-2 tie on a power play with a 6:01 left. Cosentino drove down the right side toward the net and put the puck into the low slot, it bounced off a defender and DeCarlo roofed the loose change.

Junior Brian Adams gave the Falcons their first two-goal lead when he collected a rebound in front of Matt Vernon (16 saves) and backhanded it in. His effort was indicative of what Air Force demonstrated all night – not quitting on a play. It also highlighted the Falcons’ scoring balance – three lines had goals and the defense chipped in two. That also is a. key part of the magic Falcon formula.

“Just consistency, not getting down if they scored a goal,” Gavin said. “That was our biggest piece tonight, being able to bounce back after adversity.”

©First Line Editorial 2022