Air Force Academy
Sacred Heart
Falcons win shootout; advance to championship game
12/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
Dec. 28, 2003
Falcon freshman Theo Zacour's goal in an overtime shootout lifted Air Force to the championship game of the 11th annual University of Connecticut Hockey Classic, Sunday, Dec. 28, at the UConn Ice Arena in Storrs, Conn.
Air Force and Sacred Heart skated to a 2-2 overtime tie in the first round of the tournament. Since one team must advance to the championship game, a shootout format was used per NCAA rules.
After the five-minute overtime, each coach selected five players for the shootout. All five players from each team shot and each team came away with one goal. Rocco Molinaro scored first for Sacred Heart and Shane Saum tied the shootout for Air Force.
The second round of the shootout is sudden death and Air Force shot first. Zacour skated the puck down the center of the ice and faked low. As Pioneer goalie Kevin LaPointe went to the ice, Zacour lifted a shot high to the left corner. Sacred Heart's Marc-Andre Fournier then skated in on Mike Polidor and tried a writer through the five-hole. Polidor made the save and the Falcons advance.
During regulation, the Falcons dominated play but LaPointe was perfect between the pipes. Air Force outshot Sacred Heart 55-24 in the game including a 48-18 advantage through the first three periods.
The Pioneers scored first as Peter Giatrelis scored with 1:21 remaining in the first period. His wrister hit Mike Polidor in the chest, but squirted under his arm and trickled over the goal line. Sacred Heart took a 2-0 lead midway through the third period. Pierre-Luc O'Brien scored from the slot from William Billinghurst and Erik Roos.
Air Force finally got on the board at 12:38 of the third period as Andrew Ramsey scored to make the score 2-1. Brandon Merkosky found Ramsey in the slot and his backhander beat LaPointe for his fourth of the season. In the final 1:25 of the game, the Falcons pulled Polidor in favor of an extra skater and Merkosky tied the game. Brooks Turniquist took a shot from the point that was saved, but Merkosky cleaned up the rebound for his third goal of the season.
"I give our guys a lot of credit," head coach Frank Serratore. "It seemed like it wasn't going to be our night, but our guys never quit. It was nice to get rewarded after we had a lot of chances. We're disappointed that we didn't win, but we are in the championship game, that is what we came here for."
The Falcons will play in their second tournament championship game of the season. AFA placed second in the Quinnipiac Cup, losing to the host school in overtime in early October.
Air Force will play either UConn or Bentley College on Monday, Dec. 29, at 5:15 EST.
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