Denver beats Air Force, 7-0

Nov. 30, 2002

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Fifth-ranked Denver scored two goals late in the first period and cruised to a 7-0 win over Air Force in a non-conference college hockey game Saturday, Nov. 30, at Magness Arena in Denver, Colo.

The first 16 minutes of the first period were very even in terms of the score, the shots and the territorial play. But the Pioneers scored two goals in the final four minutes to take a 2-0 lead. Denver forward Max Bull scored from J.J. Hartman with 3:57 left in the first period on a breakaway after Air Force's clearing attempt hit the referee and bounced to the center of the ice. Later in the period, Air Force skated on the power play after an interference call on Jussi Halme. But with seven seconds left in the first period, DU scored a short-handed breakaway goal. Connor James took a pass from Lukas Dora and Aaron MacKenzie and scored his 10th goal of the season.

DU, 12-2-2 overall, scored two in the second and three in third. Greg Barber scored a power-play goal at 9:06 of the second period and then Jon Foster scored on a penalty shot at 12:03. Foster received the penalty shot after an Air Force player covered the puck in the crease.

The Pioneers scored three goals in a span of two minutes and 31 seconds of the third period on goals by Halme, Greg Barber and Kevin Doell.

Denver out-shot Air Force, 12-1 in the second period and 47-19 for the game. The Falcons were 0-for-3 on the power play while Denver was 1-for-4. Falcon goaltender Mike Polidor made 40 saves, the seventh time this season he has made 30 or more. DU netminder Adam Berkhoel made 19 saves.

Air Force's two best scoring chances came midway through the first period and then late in the second period. With seven minutes left in a scoreless first period, Seth Pelletier had a breakaway chance after the Falcons won the faceoff in the defensive zone. Pelletier was far ahead of the Pioneer defense, but made one too many moves and was unable to get off a shot. Then with 28 seconds left in the second period and the Falcons trailing 4-0, AFA got its first shot on goal of the period. Kyle Fransdal and Ryan Wiggins had a two-on-one rush up the ice. Fransdal made a pass to Wiggins from the left circle to the far post, but Berkhoel made the save from close range.

"We played as well as we could have in the first period and we were down two goals," head coach Frank Serratore said. "I really felt bad for our guys. They played as hard as they could. We played better tonight than we did on Friday, but we still lost 7-0. It is very hard to play these two teams on back-to-back nights."

The Falcons suffered consecutive shutout losses for the first time since the 1999-00 season when the team was beaten by then 10th-ranked Colorado College (10-0) and Niagara (3-0). The Falcons have now lost six of their last seven while Denver has a seven-game unbeaten streak. Denver extended its winning streak over Air Force to 15 games.

Air Force, 5-9 overall, returns home to host the fifth annual Radisson North Hockey Classic, Fri.-Sat., Dec. 6-7, at the Cadet Ice Arena. Augsburg faces the Milwaukee School of Engineering Friday at 3:05 p.m. while Air Force hosts Wisconsin-Stout at 7 p.m. On Saturday, Air Force will play the 7:05 p.m. game regardless of Friday's outcome. The Falcons will face either Augsburg or MSOE.

Following the tournament, the Falcons will be off until Dec. 28-39 at Fairfield (Conn.)

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