Falcons sweep Meryhurst, move on to AHA quarterfinals

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Luke Manning scored two goals and Alex Schilling made 20 saves as Air Force defeated Mercyhurst, 5-1, to sweep the Atlantic Hockey playoff series, Saturday, March 7, at the Cadet Ice Arena.

With the win, Air Force will advance to the AHA quarterfinals against the No. 3 seed RIT Tigers, Friday-Saturday, March 13-14, and March 15 if necessary, in Rochester, N.Y. The Falcons have reached the AHA quarterfinals in each of their 14 seasons in the league.

Air Force (12-18-6 overall) jumped on the board just 66 seconds into the game. Dalton Weigel sent the puck up ice from his own end and Marshall Bowery chipped it in. Brady Tomlak's shot was saved but Willie Reim put back the rebound for a 1-0 lead. Reim has scored a goal in three straight games and has six on the season. After Tomlak drew a penalty, the Falcons had five shots on the power play and scored just after the penalty expired. A shot by Max Harper was saved and created a flurry in front of the net. Zach Mirageas found Luke Manning in the right circle and the freshman netted his seventh of the season at 7:00. Air Force had a 17-0 shot advantage before the Lakers got their first shot on goal with 10 minutes left in the period. In the second half of the period, Mercyhurst outshot Air Force, 7-6. With five minutes left in the period, the Lakers had a 2-on-0 and James Anderson's shot was saved by a sprawling Alex Schilling.

Early in the second period, the penalty kill came up huge for the Falcons, killing three Laker power plays. Once back to 5-on-5, Laker Josh McDougall found some space down the right side and his shot was saved. As the rebound sat in the crease, Mirageas cleared the puck out of danger, right in front of two Lakers. Less than a minute later, Jake Levin found Matt Pulver in the neutral zone and Pulver gained the zone on a 1-on-1. His shot was saved, but Ty Pochipinski scored his first career goal for a 3-0 lead at 13:40.

Early in the third period, Mercyhurst (5-29-2) got on the board on the rush. Dalton Hunter scored his seventh of the season from Josh McDougall at 2:58. With under four minutes left, Marshall Bowery drew an interference penalty on a faceoff and the Falcons capitalized. Mirageas sent the puck down low to Trevor Stone and Stone set up Manning for his second of the game, eighth of the season, at 16:29 on the power play. With 1:43 remaining, Stone netted his fourth of the season from Levin and Reim for a 5-1 lead.

"I loved our competitive spirit tonight," head coach Frank Serratore said. "Our first period was as a good a period as we have played all season. And then we had a couple huge mistakes too. Schilling had to make a big time save for us on a 3-on-0. Our group of five play has been pretty good. We went up 3-0 and that was an unusual spot for us to be in, but we navigated our way through it. They scored that goal early in the third, but then we got the next two and there was a happy finish to the story. I'm so happy for our seniors to continue their season and now we get to go to Rochester."

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