Blessing made 35 saves in 4-1 win over Lindenwood

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Guy Blessing made 35 saves and Austin Scwartz scored two goals as Air Force defeated Lindenwood, 4-1, in the season opener for both teams, Saturday, Oct. 7, at the Cadet Ice Arena. Blessing, making his first start since Dec. 3, 2022, recorded the second most saves of his career.

After a scoreless first period, Air Force (1-0-0) drew first blood midway through the second as Holt Oliphant scored from Luke Robinson and Owen Baumgartner. Oliphant collected the puck on the left side, cut to the front of the net and scored at 10:17 of the second period. Lindenwood answered just 45 seconds later as Jake Southgate dumped a puck deep off the back wall. The puck bounced out in front and Drew Kuzma tied the game at 11:02. The Falcons regained the lead late in the second period as Will Gavin scored his team-leading 31^st career goal. Rowe's shot from the top of the right circle was saved and Gavin put back the rebound with 1:43 left in the second.

The Falcons held the one-goal lead until midway through the third period when Rowe sent a puck to Chris Hedden down the left side. Hedden's cross ice pass was right on the tape of Schwartz who gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead at 10:11. Coming out of a media timeout with 3:55 remaining, Lindenwood pulled the goalie for the extra attacker. Rowe collected his third assist of the night, matching his career high, as he sent the puck around the boards. Parker Brown chipped the puck into the neutral zone to Schwartz who scored his second of the night with 3:06 left.

Lindenwood outshot Air Force, 36-32. Air Force was 0-for-2 on the power play while LU was 0-for-1. Trent Burham made 28 saves for the visitors.

"Our energy was good early on, but we gave them some quality chances" head coach Frank Serratore said. "Thankfully for us, Guy Blessing was the best player on the ice. He made several big saves early in that game or things could have different. We need to be better in front of him tomorrow night. We were concerned about their power play and the best way to handle that is to stay out of the box. We only had one penalty and we killed it."

Air Force and Lindenwood (0-1-0) conclude the two-game non-conference series on Sunday, Oct. 8, at 5:05 pm MT.

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