Air Force hosts RIT, Feb. 25-26

This Week: Air Force (12-15-3, 10-11-3 AHA) concludes the regular season with a two-game Atlantic Hockey series against the RIT Tigers (15-13-4, 11-9-4 AHA) Friday-Saturday, Feb. 25-26, at the Cadet Ice Arena. Friday's game starts at 7:05 pm MT while Saturday's opening faceoff is at 5:05 pm MT.

The Standings: AIC won it fourth straight regular season championship and clinched the No. 1 seed in the tournament. RIT is in fourth place with 38 points, four points ahead of Air Force with six points available this weekend. Air Force is currently in sixth place and could finish anywhere from fourth to ninth entering the final weekend. The top six get a bye, while No. 7 hosts No. 10 and No. 8 hosts No. 9 in the first round. In the quarterfinals, the top four teams host the bottom four remaining teams. The AHA Final Four is March 18-19 in Utica, N.Y.

Senior Night: Air Force has just one senior in the class of 2022, goaltender Alex Schilling. A three-year starter, Schilling was the team MVP as a sophomore and has played in 69 career games with nearly 1500 career saves. This season, he led the Falcons to wins over Michigan State and Colorado College and had a career high 42 saves against third-ranked Denver.

About RIT: RIT is 15-13-4 overall and is in fourth place in Atlantic Hockey with 38 points at 11-9-4 in conference play. Last weekend, RIT swept Niagara, 4-2 at NU and 3-2 in Rochester. The week before, the Tigers were swept at Mercyhurst, 1-0 and 4-2. Early in the season, RIT defeated 9th-ranked Notre Dame, 3-2 in overtime. Will Calverley leads the team, and the conference, with 15 goals and is tied with Carter Wilkie with 25 points. Tommy Scarfone and Kolby Mattews have split time in goal. Scarfone has a .911 saves percentage and a 2.78 GAA. Scarfone was the AHA Goalie of the Week, stopping 58 of 62 against the Lakers. Wilkie was the AHA Rokie of the Week with three points against the Lakers.

Series vs. RIT: Air Force leads the all-time series vs. RIT, 33-24-4. The teams did not play last season due to COVID protocols. AF and RIT were scheduled to meet in the AHA Quarterfinals in Rochester in 2020, but the series was cancelled due to COVID. The teams last met in the 2019-20 season with RIT taking three of four games. The Tigers swept the Falcons in Colorado in 2020 and have won three straight at Cadet Ice Arena. Air Force has won 10 of the last 14 in the series. Both Air Force and RIT joined Atlantic Hockey in 2006 and, since then, the teams have played 52 times in league play. Air Force leads in AHA games 29-20-3. In the history of the series, 47 of the 61 games (77 percent) have been decided by two goals or less with 15 games going into overtime. At Air Force, the Falcons lead 18-10-3.

Quick Hitters
* Air Force took four points from Bentley last weekend and took seven of the 12 points in the series this season.
* Air Force killed all eight Bentley power plays in the series and has killed 10 straight the last three games. Over the last five games, Air Force has killed 16 of 18 (88 percent)
* Air Force tied its season high with 20 blocked shots in game one
* Air Force had goals from its first, third and fourth lines in game one and its first, second and fourth lines on Saturday
* Air Force scored the first goal in both games and is now 10-1-2 when scoring first
* Sophomore Nate Horn tied his career high with two goals in game one.
* Horn has 11 points in his last 11 games
* Junior Bennett Norlin scored his first goal of the season in game one. The goal was his first career short-handed goal and Air Force's second shortie of the season
* Freshman Austin Schwartz netted his first career game-winner in game one
* Sophomore Luke Robinson had a career high five blocked shots in game one
* Defenseman Brandon Koch had an assist on Friday and leads the AHA with 21 assists this season
* Freshman Clayton Cosentino scored on Saturday and has a point in seven of his last eight games.
* Mitchell Digby tied his career high with two points (1-1-2) in game two and had three points in the series.
* Thirteen different Falcons scored in the series at Bentley

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Players Mentioned

Clayton Cosentino

Mitchell Digby

Nate Horn

Brandon Koch

Bennett Norlin

Luke Robinson

Alex Schilling

Austin Schwartz

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