Air Force Academy
Bentley
Air Force and Bentley skate to 3-3 tie
11/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Nov. 6, 2009
Air Force and Bentley skated to 3-3 overtime tie in an Atlantic Hockey Association game, Friday night, Nov. 6, at the Academy's Cadet Ice Arena.
Air Force is tied for first place in the league with Holy Cross with seven points. AFA is 3-5-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the league. Bentley is 2-3-1 overall and 2-1-1.
Air Force took an early lead as Paul Weisgarber scored his first of the season just 1:12 into the game. After winning a faceoff in the offensive end, Mark Williams took a shot from the point and Jacques Lamoureux redirected it off the far post. Weisgarber cleaned up the rebound for a 1-0 lead. However, Bentley scored the next three goals of the game.
Midway through the period, Brendan Harrison picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and fed Brett Hartung at the blue line. His wrister from the right faceoff dot beat Andrew Volkening to tie the game at 9:50. Five minutes later, Bentley took a 2-1 lead as Erik Peterson slipped behind the Air Force defense. After an Air Force rush, Trent Bonnett made a long outlet pass to Peterson in the neutral zone and he skated in uncontested on Volkening for his fourth of the season.
Bentley took a 3-1 lead in the second period on Justin Kemmerer's first goal of the season. Brandon Bahnemann faked a wrap-around shot and then fed Kemmerer out front. AFA cut the lead to 3-2 at 12:55 after the Falcons won a scrum behind Volkening. Kyle De Laurell fed Scott Mathis at the left point. His shot hit goaltender Joe Calvi in the shoulder and went in for his first of the season.
Early in the third period, the Falcons had several quality chances that were turned away by Calvi. At the 3:35 mark, Blake Page drew a penalty, his second of the game, and the Falcons capitalized six seconds later. Lamoureux sent the puck out to Tim Kirby at the center point and he fired a shot that Calvi saved. De Laurell collected the rebound in the slot and put in his second of the season to tie the game at 3-3.
With just over three minutes left in the third, Hartung had a breakaway that Volkening saved. In overtime, Calvi made two saves from point blank range on Jeff Hajner and Derrick Burnett.
Air Force outshot Bentley, 13-5 in the third period and 32-25 in the game. AFA was 1-for-4 on the power play and Bentley was 0-for-2. Volkening made 22 saves for Air Force while Calvi made 29 for Bentley.
"After we got the early lead, we fell behind and it could have easily been a loss," head coach Frank Serratore said. "We had poor game management and gave up a lot of out-numbered situations tonight. We have to become a better team and develop an identity. We need to be a difficult team to play against defensively. We had to work so hard for our goals and we gave them some easy opportunities."
The same two teams conclude the series Saturday night, Nov. 7, at 7:05 p.m.
