Air Force Academy
Ohio State
Falcons win Ice Breaker in shootout
10/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
DENVER, Colo. - Shane Starrett made 46 saves and Tyler Ledford scored in a shootout as Air Force earned the 2016 Ice Breaker Tournament championship, Saturday, Oct. 8, at Magness Arena in Denver, Colo. After 65 minutes of hockey, the game officially ended in a tie, but to determine a champion, the teams played a 3-on-3 overtime followed by a sudden-death shootout. In the first round of the sudden death shootout, Air Force, as the home team, chose to shoot second. Starrett made a save on Buckeye team captain Nick Schilkey. On Air Force's chance, Ledford skated slowly down the middle with several forehand-backhand moves. Once the Buckeye goaltender Matt Tomkins committed to his right, Ledford pulled the puck across and scored the game-winner.
Air Force (1-0-1) opened the scoring just three minutes into the game when junior defenseman Phil Boje fired a shot from the left point that clanked off the post and went in for his first of the season. Ohio State outshot Air Force, 19-9, in the first period, but Shane Starrett kept the net clean.
The Buckeyes (1-0-1) tied the game early in the second period when Ronnie Hein put back a rebound on a flurry in front of the goal at 3:44. The Falcons answered with two goals in the final eight minutes of the second period. In a four-on-four situation, a penalty was called on Ohio State and Air Force had a 4-on-3 power play. The Falcons controlled the puck in the zone and took several shots. Boje fed Ben Kucera in the slot and the junior winger scored his second goal of the tournament at the 11:35 mark. Late in the period, freshman Matt Pulver made a perfect pass from behind the net to a slashing Jordan Himley in the right circle. Himley's first of the season with 2:03 left put the Falcons up 3-1.
The Buckeyes came back to tie the game in the third. Ohio State's John Wiitla scored on a rebound at 2:44 and then Schilkey's rebound tied the game with 5:17 left. Tied at 3-3, the game went into a five-minute, 5-on-5, overtime. Air Force outshot OSU, 7-1, in overtime, but the game was still tied and headed into a five-minute 3-on-3 overtime. Air Force started the period with a 4-on-3 power play, but was not able to score. After an Air Force penalty, the Falcons killed the Buckeyes power play and the game was headed to a shootout. A save by Starrett and the goal by Ledford earned Air Force's first ever Ice Breaker Tournament title and the Falcons' first tournament title since winning the 2013 Ledyard Bank Classic in Hanover, N.H.
Starrett was named the tournament MVP while Ben Kucera, with two goals in the two games, was also named to the all-tournament team.
"There were a lot of momentum swings in the game," head coach Frank Serratore said. "We didn't play very well early in the third period. We played defensive. Then after they tied the game, we played a lot better. When the refs asked us if we wanted to shoot first or second in the shootout, we chose second because we knew we had the best player on the ice in our goal (Starrett)."
Air Force travels to Tempe, Ariz., for a two-game non-conference series Friday and Sunday, Oct. 14-16.
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