Air Force Academy
RIT
Air Force blanks RIT, 3-0
2/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 4, 2012
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Jason Torf stopped all 25 shots he faced and three different Falcons scored as Air Force blanked RIT, 3-0, in an Atlantic Hockey Association game Friday, Feb. 3, at the sold out Academy's Cadet Ice Arena. With the win, Air Force moved into a tie for first place in Atlantic Hockey with RIT and Niagara with 27 points in league play. AFA improved to 13-7-6 overall and 11-4-5. RIT fell to 15-9-3 overall and 12-5-3 in the AHA.
Torf earned his first shutout of the season and his first since beating RIT, 1-0, in the AHA Championship game last season. Torf has now shutout RIT for six consecutive periods. In his last 11 periods against RIT, Torf has blanked the Tigers in nine of the them. The shutout was the third of his career.
In a scoreless first period, Air Force outshot RIT, 17-6, but Tiger goalie Shane Madolora made all 17 saves. Air Force opened the scoring at the 1:50 mark of the second period. Short-handed, Mike Walsh collected a loose puck in his own end and chipped it off the boards. Casey Kleisinger picked it up in the neutral zone and skated down the left side. His wrister beat Madolora on the blocker side for his seventh goal of the season and second shortie of the year.
Midway through the third period, freshman Chad Demers tipped in a point shot by Scott Mathis for a 2-0 lead at the 7:42 mark. John Kruse sent the puck up the wall to Mathis at left point as Demers netted his sixth of the season. With just over two minutes left in the third period, Tim Kirby sent the puck around his own net to Demers on the wall. Before taking a hit, he chipped it to the neutral zone and Kruse skated down the right side on a 2-on-1 breakaway. His wrister from the circle beat Madolora for his 12th of the season.
Air Force outshot RIT, 34-25, in the game. AFA was 0-for-6 on the power play while RIT was 0-for-2. Torf made 25 saves for the Falcons while Madolora made 31 for the Tigers.
"This was a big win over a very good team," head coach Frank Serratore said. "We got off to a great start in the first period with a lot of shots and we took the play to them. We had the puck a lot in their zone and sometimes against a good team like RIT, the best defense is a good offense. We need to get something from our power play and we tried a bunch of different things. We were just terrible on faceoffs. This RIT team has won a lot of games in Atlantic Hockey and we know we will be in for a battle tomorrow."
Air Force and RIT conclude the two-game league series on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 7:05 p.m. at the Cadet Ice Arena. Standing room only tickets for Saturday's game will go on sale at the box office at 6:05 p.m. --30--
