Air Force blasts Fairfield, 8-3, in college hockey
10/14/2001 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
Oct. 14, 2001
Air Force scored five goals in the first period and cruised to an 8-3 win over Fairfield in a non-conference college hockey game Sunday, Oct. 14, at the Academy's Cadet Ice Arena.
With the victory, Air Force earned a two-game sweep over Fairfield and improved to 2-2 overall this season, Fairfield fell to 0-2 on the year. AFA improved to 5-0 overall vs. Fairfield in the all-time series. The Falcons are also 14-3-1 against opponents from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) in the last two years.
AFA opened the scoring just 1:49 into the game as Derek Olson scored unassisted. His shot from behind the net hit a Stag defenseman and went in the goal. Brian Reaney scored his first goal of the season on a power play at 3:31. Sophomore Shane Saum and freshman Ross Miller gave the Falcons a 4-0 lead midway through the period. Olson's second goal of the night came on the power play at 17:32 when he walked out from behind the net and beat Stag reserve goalie Craig Schnappinger short side.
Air Force had to withstand an explosive flurry from the Stags to open the second period. Fairfield fired the first 15 shot attempts of the period, 10 on goal, before the Falcons even got one attempt. In the flurry, Fairfield scored two goals. Burton Mills scored at 4:04 and Dan Cotter scored at 5:08. Brian Rodgers stopped the bleeding as he netted his third goal of the season at 9:34. Andy Berg made a perfect pass through the slot and Rodgers tipped the puck in the open net. Tom Starkey ended any hopes of a Fairfield comeback as he scored a short-handed goal at 17:23. After Justin Hamilton was called for a penalty, Starkey and Spanky Leonard had a two-on-one breakaway and Starkey netted his second goal of the season.
"Special teams and goaltending," head coach Frank Serratore said. "Our special teams were awesome. Their goaltending was not very good and ours was adequate. We really took it to them in the first period. They came out fired up to start the second period, but our veteran guys stepped up and put out the fire."
Special teams were the difference in the game. Air Force was 4-for-7 on the power play. The Falcons killed all eight Stag power plays and also scored a short-handed goal. The shots on goal for the game were dead-even at 30.
Falcon sophomore goalie Mike Polidor earned the win as he played the first two periods and stopped 15 of the 17 shots he faced. Junior Jeremy High saw his first action of the season. He played the third period and gave up one goal while making 10 saves.
"Three lines scored for us today and that is what has to happen for us to be successful," Serratore said. "We need to score by committee and our depth needs to be our strength. We have some very good players, but we need to be good collectively, not just individually."
It was a historic day for Falcon hockey as 12 former greats were inducted into the Air Force Hockey Wall of Fame. The 12 players inducted between the first and second periods were: Gary Batinich (Class of 1978), Beau Bilek (1995), Frank Daldine (1986), Chuck Delich (1977), Joe Doyle (1989), Justin Kieffer (1999), Doug Leibbrand (1977), Gerry Micheletti (1975), Kim Newman (1971), Bob Ross (1972), Bob Sajevic (1980), Dave Skalko (1974).
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