Air Force Academy
RIT
Falcons blank RIT, 4-0
2/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Box Score 
| WATCH: Highlights | WATCH: Serratore post-game
By Meredith Yeoman
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - Reigning AHC Goalie of the Month Shane Starrett turned in a 24-save performance, as the Air Force Falcons rolled to a 4-0 victory over the visiting RIT Tigers in an Atlantic Hockey Conference showdown Saturday, Feb. 6, at the Academy's Cadet Ice Arena.
Air Force raced out to an early 2-0 lead on goals by sophomores Ben Kucera and Dylan Abood, and Starrett took care of the rest, shutting down a red-hot Tigers' offense that came in averaging 3.48 goals per game in conference play. The freshman netminder's third shutout win of the season extended the Falcons' unbeaten streak to 10 games and ended the Tigers' eight-game unbeaten streak. Air Force (14-9-5, 12-5-5 AHC) has taken at least three of four available points in its last five series and over the weekend passed RIT (12-11-5, 12-6-4 AHC) in the conference standings to claim sole possession of second place. Air Force's unbeaten streak is tied as the longest in the nation and is the longest by the Falcons since the 2008-09 season.
The Falcons will travel to fourth-place Holy Cross, Feb. 12-13, for a weekend set before returning home Feb. 19-20 to take on conference-leading Robert Morris.
Air Force struck just 2:31 into the first frame during some early 4-on-4 action. Sophomore center Tyler Ledford forced a turnover behind the RIT net and fed Kucera who rifled home a one-timer from the slot to open the scoring. Two and a half minutes later, Abood engineered a breakaway from deep in the Air Force zone, then raced the length of the ice to put on the finishing touches. Abood's outlet pass found sophomore winger Erik Baskin who left the puck for Ledford just inside the blue line. Ledford spotted Abood streaking up the ice and threaded a pass from the top of the right circle to the Tigers' doorstep where the defenseman tapped in his second of the year to extend his point streak to three games. Ledford finished with two assists in the contest.
In the third period, freshman center Evan Feno found the net just seconds after a Falcons' man-advantage expired. First-year winger Matt Serratore fired the puck through the goal crease, catching a piece of Tigers' goalie Christian Short's stick and deflecting the puck to Feno who teed up the backdoor shot.
Down three goals with 4:16 remaining, RIT pulled Short from net in lieu of an extra attacker. With one minute left in the game, freshman Kyle Haak blocked a shot, skated the puck into the neutral zone and sent it into the empty net from about 120 feet away. Starrett made five saves in the extra-attacker situation to improve to 10-7-5 overall this season.
Short stopped 20-of-23 shots, taking the loss in net for the visitors. Neither team converted a power play. Air Force was 0-for-5, and RIT was 0-for-3.
"I really liked our business-like approach tonight," head coach Frank Serratore said. "This is the best Saturday night we have had all season. Good teams are hard to put away and RIT is a good team and they are a contender. It was not easy. I was pleased with a lot of things tonight. It was nice to see our penalty kill get better and was nice to play with the lead all night."
