Air Force Academy
Wayne State
Air Force Downs Wayne State, 6-4
3/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Hockey
March 5, 2004
Shane Saum scored two goals and had an assist and Mike Knaeble added a goal and two assists as Air Force defeated Wayne State, 6-4, in a College Hockey American game Friday night at the CompuWare Center in Detroit, Mich.
The victory snaps a four-game losing streak for the Falcons and puts them two points ahead of the Whalers for the fifth position in the conference standings. Wayne State would have to beat Air Force by more than four goals on Saturday to knock the Falcons out of the fifth positions.
"We still need to play to win on Saturday," Air Force head coach Frank Serratore. "You don't come out and play not to lose by four goals, you play to win. We're going to come out tomorrow and play to win the game. We need wins."
The Falcons got on the board first with a power play goal from freshman Brandon Merkosky at the 2:44 mark to give Air Force a 1-0 lead. Merkosky re-directed a shot from Billy Devoney for his sixth goal of the season. Wayne State answered with the first of two goals from Jason Baclig at the 6:38 mark. The power play goal was assisted by John May and Steve Kovalchik. The freshman added his second goal five minutes later to stake the Warriors to a 2-1 lead.
Air Force bounced back when junior Seth Pelletier scored at the 14:04 mark on assists from Saum and Knaeble to tie the game 2-2. Saum scored on a rebound just 3:36 later to give AFA a 3-2 lead at the end of the first period. Brooks Turnquist and Knaeble added assists on the score.
The second period was just as action-filled as the first. Wayne State pulled even with Air Force at 3-3 on the hat-trick goal Baclig at the 12:29 mark. The Falcons answered with a pair of goals in the final two minutes of the period. Knaeble scored with a blast from just inside the blue line at the 1:55 mark. The goal was assisted by Pelletier and Devoney. Saum added his second goal of the night, on a power play, just 1:05 later on a tip in from Turnquist and Leonard to give the Falcons a 5-3 lead.
Wayne State pulled to within a goal at the 11:38 mark when John May scored on a rebound, but the Falcons iced it when Ryan Wiggins scored an empty net goal with just 30.3 seconds remaining to make up the final margin.
Air Force was out-shot by Wayne State, 37-31, but the Falcons took better advantage of their power play chances. The Falcons scored on two of six chances while allowing the Whalers just one goal in three power play opportunities. Air Force goalie Mike Polidor was solid, collecting 33 saves. Polidor was particularly tough in the first period recorded 17 saves.
"It's been a while. We needed to have this happen," Serratore said. "We beat a much improved Wayne team. They are a much better team than they were when we played them at the Academy earlier this year."
The victory improves Air Force to 13-20-2 overall and 5-13-1 in CHA action. The victory is the team's 13th against Division I teams which is just one away from the school record. Wayne State falls to 8-22-3 overall and 4-14-1 in the conference. The same two teams play at 1 p.m. MST on Saturday.
