Air Force Academy
Alabama-Huntsville
Falcons beat Alabama-Huntsville, 3-1
1/23/2004 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
Jan. 23, 2004
Freshman Peter Foster made 27 saves and three different Falcons scored as Air Force beat Alabama-Huntsville, 3-1, in a College Hockey America game Friday night, Jan. 23, at the Academy's Cadet Ice Arena.
Air Force snapped a six-game winless skid against UAH and improved to 10-13-2 overall and 3-7-1 in the CHA. UAH's four-game winning streak ended as the Chargers fell to 8-8-1 overall and 7-4 in the CHA.
"Our kids played so hard tonight," head coach Frank Serratore said. "We have been in these games before and haven't closed the deal. Tonight we finished them off. I am so happy for our team. They gave such a great effort."
The Falcons drew first blood on the power play as Andrew Ramsey scored with 57 seconds left in the first period. Ramsey took a shot from the right faceoff circle that deflected off of a UAH skate and went in the goal.
UAH tied the game on a power play at the 15:23 mark of the second period. Jared Ross put back a rebound for his league-leading 13th marker of the season. His goal was assisted by Bruce Mulherin and Jeremy Schreiber. Just 11 seconds later with the Falcons on the power play, Spanky Leonard scored as AFA regained the lead. His goal came at 15:34 from Ryan Wiggins and Shane Saum.
Air Force, 3-2 in its last five games, put the game away as Matt Bader scored on a breakaway from Saum and Billy Devoney. Saum used some nifty stick-handling through the neutral and made a pass to Bader at the blue line. Bader skated in uncontested and beat Adam MacLean through the five hole.
Air Force out-shot UAH in every period and had a 36-28 advantage in the game. The Falcons were 2-for-9 on the power play while UAH was 1-for-7.
Foster, who made his second consecutive start and just the fourth of his career, made 27 saves. The freshman from Canton, Mich., was coming off of a 3-0 win at Army and entered the game with 96 consecutive shutout minutes. Ross' goal in the second period ended his streak at 131 minutes, the second longest in school history and the longest against Division I opponents.
"Peter Foster is one cool customer," Serratore said. "He has poise and is confident. He has been impatiently waiting his chance to play, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Mike Polidor has won a lot of games for us and he'll be back. But right now we have to stick with the hot hand. It is nice to know that we have two goaltenders that can win games for us."
MacLean made 33 saves for UAH.
The same two teams conclude the series Saturday night, at 7:05 p.m. MST in the Cadet Ice Arena.
