Air Force Academy
Robert Morris
Falcons beat Robert Morris, 6-2
1/20/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Air Force scored two in the first and three in the third for a 6-2 win over Robert Morris in an Atlantic Hockey Conference game Friday, Jan. 20, at the 84 Lumber Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Falcons improved to 14-7-4 overall and 11-4-2 in the league. With the win, the Falcons are back in first place in Atlantic Hockey, one point ahead of Army West Point.
Air Force scored first as senior A.J. Reid gave the Falcons the early lead. Trevor Stone knocked down a puck on the wall and Reid scored from the bottom of the right circle at 1:39 of the first period. The Falcons took a 2-0 lead late in the period. Jordan Himley jumped out of the penalty box and took a pass from Brady Tomlak in the neutral zone. Himley's shot from the right circle went through the screen of Tomlak and Pierce Pluemer for a 2-0 lead at 15:08 of the first period.
Early in the second period, Daniel Leavens put back a rebound just 43 seconds in the second period to cut the Falcon lead to 2-1. Air Force answered quickly as Tomlak won a faceoff in the offensive zone and Dylan Abood took a shot from the right point that found its way through traffic and into the back of the net. Midway through the second period, the Colonials cut the Falcon lead to 3-2 when Luke Lynch tipped in a shot by Rob Mann on the power play at 8:22.
Air Force regained its two-goal lead early in the third on the power play. After the Colonials had a short-handed rush, the Falcons went back the other way on a 4-on-2. Dan Bailey dropped a pass to Evan Feno who buried a slap shot from the high slot at 5:45 of the third. Later in the period, Tyler Rostenkowski's wrap-around attempt slid through the crease and Tomlak scored on the back door at 12:52 for his second of the season. The Colonials pulled their goaltender and the Falcons capitalized as Pierce Pluemer scored from Tyler Ledford with 1:11 left in the game.
Robert Morris out shot Air Force, 35-33, in the game. Each team was 1-for-3 on the power play. Shane Starrett made 33 saves for the Falcons. Francis Marotte started for Robert Morris and gave up three goals on 15 shots. He was replaced by Dalton Izyk early in the second period, who made 14 saves and allowed two goals.
"For the most part we played the way we wanted to," assistant coach Joe Doyle said. "We had good legs tonight. We wanted to play as a group of five and we did. I'm really proud of our guys and happy about the way we played right from the opening faceoff. We got good goaltending and scored timely goals. When they scored the second goal to make the score, 3-2, we settled in and didn't let them get the next one. We've given up some leads the last couple weekends, but credit our guys for sticking with it. Great team effort tonight."
The same two teams conclude the two-game league series on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 7:05 pm ET in Pittsburgh, Pa.
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