Air Force Academy
Canisius
Win streak ends with 4-1 loss to Canisius
1/13/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo . - Canisius scored four goals in the first period and held off Air Force for a 4-1 win in an Atlantic Hockey Conference game Friday, Jan. 13, at the Academy's Cadet Ice Arena. Air Force's six-game winning streak, tied as the longest in the nation, ended as the Falcons fall to 13-7-3 overall and 10-4-1 in the league. However, despite the loss, the Falcons remain in first place in Atlantic Hockey.
Canisius (8-10-4, 7-4-3 AHC) opened the scoring just 3:11 into the game when Jeff Murray took a shot from a sharp angle on the right side, but the puck squirted under the arm of goalie Shane Starrett and Jesse Pereira tapped it in for a 1-0 lead. Air Force answered at 9:24 when Jordan Himley scored his team-leading 11th of the season with a wrister from the high slot. Matt Serratore won a race to a puck behind the net and Kyle Haak fed Himley who tied the game. The Griffs then scored three goals in a span of 2:24 for a 4-1 lead. Matt McLeod found David Bennett at the top of the crease at 10:35 and the Griffs took a 2-1 lead. Dylan McLaughlin found some space in front of the Air Force net and Ryan Smelzer found him at the 12:09 mark. After the goal, Starrett was taken out of the game and replaced by Billy Christopoulos. The Griffs kept the pressure on and Casey Jerry redirected a pass from Felix Chamberland on the rush at 12:59 and the Griffs went up 4-1.
The second period was all Air Force, but the Falcons could not find the back of the net. Air Force had four power plays in the second period and outshot the Griffs, 19-1, but still trailed 4-1 after two periods.
In the third period, the Falcons had an 11-5 shot advantage and pulled the goalie for the final 4:47, but were unable to cut into the Griffs' lead.
Air Force outshot Canisius in every period and 39-12 in the game. The Falcons were 0-for-6 on the power play while Canisius was 0-for-4. Charles Williams made 38 saves for the Griffs. Christopoulos made seven for the Falcons.
"They were opportunistic tonight", head coach Frank Serratore said. "We didn't give them many chances, but we dropped some bombs tonight. Give them credit, when we gave them a chance, they capitalized. In the second and third periods, we controlled everything we could control. We didn't take away their goalies eyes very well and he saw a lot of pucks."
The same two teams conclude the two-game league series on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 5:05 pm at the Cadet Ice Arena.
--30--
