Air Force faces Army in AHA championship game
3/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
March 17, 2007
The AF-Army Matchup
• Tonight's game marks the first time an Air Force hockey team has ever played in a conference tournament championship game
• The winner of tonight's game will mark the first time a service academy team has ever been to the NCAA Tournament
• Tonight's game marks the first meeting between Air Force and Army in a conference tournament
AF-Army This Season • Air Force and Army have played twice this season and the teams split the series in Colorado. AFA won the first game, 4-1, while Army won the second game, 2-0
• Hajner and Ramsey scored two goals each for Air Force in the first game
• Ben Worker started both games for AFA while Josh Kassel started both for Army
• Worker stopped 21 of 22 shots in the first game and eight of 10 in the second game
• Kassel stopped 24 of 28 in game one and all 36 in game two • AFA out-shot Army, 54-32, in the series
• AFA was 1-for-8 (5-on-4 goal by Ramsey) on the PP while Army was 1-for-9 (5-on-3 goal by Podsaid)
AF-Army Series
• Army and Air Force have played 42 times and the Falcons hold a 24-16-2 lead in the series that began in 1976.
• Air Force dominated the series from 1997-2001 with a 10-1-1 record in that span.
• However, since 2003, Army has won six of the 10 games
• Eleven games have been decided by one goal and seven by two goals. Three have gone to OT and AFA is 0-1-2 in those games
• The teams have played twice on neutral ice and each team has won one. Army beat Air Force, 5-3, at the 1992 Denver Cup. Air Force beat Army, 2-1, at the 1999 Silverado Shootout in Duluth, Minn.
• There has always been a discrepancy in the series records according to Army and Air Force. In 1969, AFA's first season of varsity hockey, the Falcons and Black Knights played twice in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Army won by scores of 12-4 and 8-0. The games are reflected in Army's series record (18-24-2 vs. AFA), but have not been counted by Air Force (24-16-2 vs. Army). According to Air Force records, the games were considered exhibition games and were not on the team's original schedule that season.
Notes from the Semifinal Game
• AFA's fourth line scored two goals last night
• Freshmen Brett Nylander and Matt Fairchild each scored goals while Jay Medenwaldt had two assists
• Junior Josh Print's game-winner was the first of his career in overtime. It was his first game-winner of the season and his first since his freshman year
• Senior Billy Devoney has scored two goals in his last three games. He had the game-tying goal with 54 seconds left in the third • Mike Phillipich extended his scoring streak to five straight games
• Eric Ehn extended his scoring streak to six straight games. He has also had streaks of eight and seven this season
• Ehn had one assist on Friday (on Phillipich's goal) and is now one point behind Michigan's T.J. Hensick for the national scoring lead. Hensick had three points on Friday vs. Michigan State. Hensick has played one more game than Ehn. Hensick's points per game average is 1.67 while Ehn is at 1.66
• Ehn leads the fan voting for the Hobey Baker award. In the first two days of the fan voting, Ehn has 34 percent of the vote (10,500 of the 36,000 votes), more than twice any other player at www.HobeyBaker.com • Ben Worker earned his seventh win of the season and his fourth consecutive win
• Michael Mayra returned to the lineup on Friday after missing 10 games with an injury
• AFA has won five straight games. The last loss was a 4-2 loss to Canisius, Feb. 17
• The five-game winning streak is the second-longest in the nation behind Boston College's nine-game streak
• The five-game Division I winning streak ties is the longest in school history. AFA also had a five-game D-I winning streak in 2004-05. It is the longest against all teams since a six-game winning streak (including two Division III victories) in 1997. The school record winning streak is 10 games set in 1975.
• AFA is now 6-9 in conference tournament. AFA was 4-9 in the College Hockey America Tournament and is now 2-0 in the AHA Playoffs with wins over Holy Cross and Sacred Heart this season
• Of AFA's 38 games this season, 26 have been decided by two goals or less. Five of those games have ended in a tie. Of the other 21, AFA is 9-12-0. The Falcons are 3-6 in games decided by one goal and 6-6 in games decided by two goals.
• Friday's win was AFA's first overtime victory this season. The Falcons have gone into overtime seven times this season and AFA is 1-1-5 in the extra period
• AFA's 18 Division I victories this season are already a school record. The Falcons have clinched their first winning season since 1999-2000 team was 19-18-2, posting the most wins in the Frank Serratore era
