Falcons travel to UConn for two-game series
1/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Jan. 18, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
This Week Air Force (9-9-3, 7-5-3 AHA) travels to Storrs, Conn., for a two-game series with the UConn Huskies (7-12-3, 7-7-1 AHA) on Friday-Saturday, Jan. 21-22, at 7:05 p.m. ET each night. The Falcons are fourth in the AHA with 17 points while UConn is sixth with 15.
Radio/Internet The games will be broadcast in Colorado Springs on The Sports Animal AM 1300 and on the internet at www.GoAirForceFalcons.com. Pregame show begins 30 minutes before faceoff. Jay Ritchie will call the play-by-play while Dave Toller will be the color analyst. Both games will be video streamed with audio by America One Television. Subscriptions can be purchased at www.americaone.com/college.
The Coaches Air Force coach Frank Serratore (Bemidji State, 1982) is in his 14th season as the Falcons' head coach. He led the Falcons to three straight conference championships and NCAA Tournament berths (2007-09). Winningest coach in the history of Air Force hockey with a record of 223-236-41 (14th year at AFA) and a career mark of 272-328-50 (18th year). UConn head coach Bruce Marshall is in his 23rd season with a school and overall record of 308-348-63.
Scouting the UConn Huskies UConn is 7-12-3 overall and 7-7-1 in the AHA (sixth). UConn opened the season with a 3-3 tie at Maine, currently ranked 13th in the nation The Huskies have lost four in the row to Mercyhurst, Dartmouth and Robert Morris UConn is 4-2-1 at home this season. Three of the team's top four scorers are freshmen. Freshman Cole Schneider leads the team, and is the top scoring freshman in the league, with 14 assists and 21 points. Sophomore Sean Ambrosie leads the team with nine goals and has 18 points. Sophomore Garrett Bartus has played nearly every minute in goal with a .905 saves percentage and a 3.62 GAA. The Huskies are averaging 3.05 goals per game while allowing 3.95.
Series with UConn AFA and UConn have played 21 games and the Falcons hold a 15-3-3 lead in the series that started in 1987. The first eight games were played at Air Force (through 2001) and AFA won all eight As AHA foes since the 2006-07 season, AFA is 7-2-2 vs. UConn. The teams have played eight times in Storrs, Conn., and the series is deadlocked at 2-2-2. The teams played four times last season and AFA took six points with a win and a tie at each venue. The teams last met in Connecticut in November, 2009 and AFA took three points with a 2-2 tie and a 3-1 win.
Cardiac Kids Air Force has nine wins this season and six have come by one goal, including one in overtime. In four of the nine wins, and one of the three ties, AFA has come back from a two- or three-goal deficit to win. Air Force came back from a 3-0 deficit in the third period to beat current No. 1 Yale, 4-3 and give Yale its only loss of the season (15-2 as of Jan. 17). AFA came back from two-goal holes against RIT, Holy Cross and Bentley. In the first game against Bentley, AFA trailed 2-0 midway through the third, tied the game in the final two minutes and won it in overtime. AFA came from a two-goal deficit to force a 5-5 overtime tie against Sacred Heart, Jan. 7. Air Force tried to pull another rabbit out of the hat against Army, but came up a goal short. Air Force fell behind 3-0 in the first and tied the game in the second. Trailing 5-3 in the final minute, Weisgarber's goal made the score 5-4 as Air Force had the goalie pulled with 44 seconds left. That was how the game ended.
Balanced Scoring Air Force has had 19 different players score the team's 76 goals this season. All twenty-one skaters that have played this season have scored at least one point. Air Force has one player with 10 goals, one with eight, one with seven, one with six and four with five goals. Eleven players have scored 10 or more points. In Air Force's nine wins this season, eight different Falcons have scored the game-winner (Weisgarber has two). In the 5-1 win over Army last Friday, five different Falcons scored.
