Air Force wins shootout over No. 9 Notre Dame

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Junior Nate Horn scored two goals and freshman Aaron Randazzo made 32 saves as Air Force and No. 9 Notre Dame skated to a 5-5 overtime tie in the final game of the 2022 Ice Breaker Tournament, Saturday, Oct, 8, at the Cadet Ice Arena. The Falcons won the shootout on a save by Randazzo and goals by Will Gavin and Mitchell Digby.
Denver won the Ice Breaker by defeating both Notre Dame (5-2) and Maine (3-1).

Early in the first period, freshman defenseman Chris Hedden carried the puck into the zone and drew a penalty. Will Gavin won a battle on the wall and Brandon Koch sent the puck down low to Nate Horn. Horn scored his first of the season with a wrister from the bottom of the right circle at 7:19. Randazzo made 11 saves in the opening period, including one with 30 seconds left in the period when the Irish were buzzing on a long shift for the Falcons.

Horn netted his second power-play goal of the game early in the second period. Andrew DeCarlo drew a penalty to put the Falcons on the man advantage. Willie Reim won a stick battle and Will Gavin set up Horn at the bottom of the circle on the right side at 3:03. Junior Luke Rowe gave the Falcons a 3-0 lead when he kept an attempted clear in the zone and blasted a slap shot from the right point at 9:23. Notre Dame got on the board at 10:45 when Grant Silanoff set up Zach Plucunski in the right circle to cut the Falcon lead to 3-1.

Late in the second period, Gavin drew a penalty and the Falcons capitalized again. Reim won a faceoff in the offensive zone to Brandon Koch at the right point. Koch took two strides to the center and scored with a wrister with 2.2 seconds left in the period.

Notre Dame scored four goals in the third period to force overtime. The Irish cut the Falcon lead to 4-2 when Solag Bakich put back a rebound of his own shot at 6:17 of the third period. Irish forward Trevor Janicke cut the Falcon lead to one goal with a power-play goal at 10:13. Air Force answered as Lucas Coon intercepted a pass on the boards and fed Bennett Norlin. Norlin scored with a wrister at 10:58 for a 5-3 lead. The Irish struck again when Jake Boltmann put back a rebound to again cut the Falcon lead to one goal with 8:10 remaining. With 1:44 left in the third, Notre Dame pulled the goalie for an extra attacker. Drew Bavaro slid the puck to the left point and Ryder Rolston scored on a one-timer with 1:12 remaining.

In the 3-on-3 overtime, Randazzo made three saves as the Irish outshot the Falcons, 3-1.
In the shootout, Notre Dame's Jackson Pierson took the first shot and scored. Air Force's Will Gavin tied the shootout by going five-hole. In the second round, Irish's Hunter Strand's shot was saved by the right pad of Randazzo. Air Force took a 2-1 lead in the shootout when Mitchell Digby scored. In third round, Jack Adams' shot was saved by Randazzo to secure the shootout win for the Falcons.
Notre Dame outshot Air Force, 37-29. Air Force was a perfect 3-for-3 on the power play while Notre Dame was 1-for-4.

"We took a step in the right direction tonight," head coach Frank Serratore said. "Our effort was missing last night, but I thought we were the better team tonight. They are a top 10 team for a reason, and they did not quit. I'm disappointed that we had a 4-1 lead and weren't able to close it out and get the win. The biggest thing for us tonight is that we were much better than last night."

Air Force hits the road next weekend for a non-conference series against Lindenwood, a first-year Division I program, in St. Louis, Oct. 14-15.

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