Falcons travel to Holy Cross
10/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
Oct. 15, 2002
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This Week: Air Force travels to Worcester, Mass., for a two-game non-conference series against Holy Cross, Friday-Saturday, Oct. 18-19, at 7:05 p.m. EST each night. Radio/Television/Internet: None.
Scouting the Opponents: Holy Cross is a Division I member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) from Worcester, Mass. The Crusaders are 1-1 this season, having lost to Quinnipiac and then beating Connecticut. Holy Cross opened the season with a 6-1 loss to conference foe Quinnipiac on Oct. 8. The Crusaders were out-shot 48-28 and trailed the entire game. Holy Cross evened its record at 1-1 with a 3-2 win over MAAC rival UConn. The game see-sawed back and forth before HC score the game-winner early in the third period. Pierre Napert-Frenette netted the game-winner on the power play at 3:27. UConn out-shot the Crusaders, 30-28 in the game.
Series Records: Air Force and Holy Cross have played nine times and the Falcons hold a 7-1-1 lead in the series. The teams played three times last season, with Air Force winning twice. The teams split the two-game series at Air Force last October. AFA won the first game 4-3 while Holy Cross won the second game, 7-6. AFA defeated Holy Cross, 5-1, in the championship game of the UConn Tournament last season in Storrs, Conn.
0 and 2 - No Sweat: With two losses on opening weekend, the Falcons opened the year 0-2 for the second consecutive season. Last year, Air Force was beaten by Alaska-Fairbanks, 8-1 and 5-2, in the season openers on the road. Air Force rebounded to win three of the next four and finish the season with a 16-16-2 overall record.
First Goal: Freshman Carson Strang, who scored two goals in the Blue-Silver scrimmage and another in the exhibition game against Windsor, scored his first collegiate goal in the loss to Niagara. Strang's goal came on the power play from Shane Saum and Tom Starkey.
Looking Back: Air Force closed out the 2001-02 season with a 16-16-2 overall record, marking the second time in three years the Falcons have finished at or above .500. The Falcons finished the season with just one loss in their last nine games. The team's eight-game unbeaten streak was the second longest in the nation. AFA was 6-10-2 in College Hockey America and finished fifth in the regular season. As the fifth-seed in the tournament, the Falcons defeated fourth-seeded Niagara, 5-3, in the first round. The season ended with a 3-1 loss to regular season and tournament champion, Wayne State.
Last Week: After a slow start, Air Force scored nine unanswered goals in a 9-1 win over the University of Windsor (Ontario, Canada) in an exhibition game Sunday, Oct. 13, at the Academy's Cadet Ice Arena.
On Deck: Following the Holy Cross series, the Falcons return home for the first home regular-season games of the season. Air Force hosts another MAAC member Bentley College, Friday-Saturday, Oct. 25-26, at 7:05 p.m. each night.
