Falcons sweep Bentley with 7-3 win in series finale

WALTHAM, Mass. – Senior Will Gavin's second career hat trick led Air Force to a 7-3 win over Bentley in an Atlantic Hockey game Saturday, Jan. 6, at the Bentley Ice Arena in Waltham, Mass. Air Force earned six points in a league series for the first time since Mercyhurst, Jan. 21-22, 2022. With the six points, Air Force jumped into sixth place in the Atlantic Hockey standings.

All three of Gavin's goals, one in each period, came on the power play, tying the Atlantic Hockey record for power-play goals by a single player in a game.

Air Force (10-11-1, 7-4-1 AHA) scored the first two goals of the game for the second straight night. Junior defenseman Mitchell Digby gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead just 1:18 into the game. After Andrew DeCarlo won a faceoff in the offensive zone, Digby collected a loose puck in the right circle scored from a sharp angle. After Brian Adams drew a penalty, the Falcons capitalized with their third power-play goal in as many games. Luke Rowe and Clayton Cosentino set up Gavin for his slap shot from the right point at 10:39. In a penalty-filled second period, Bentley cut the Falcon lead in half as Bentley's Chase Davis put back a rebound on the power play at 15:06.

Air Force took a 3-1 lead just 27 seconds into the second period on Gavin's second power-play goal of the game. Clayton Cosentino won a faceoff in the offensive zone and Chris Hedden set up Gavin for a blast from the center point. Bentley answered on the rush as Arlo Merritt scored from Ryan Upson to cut the AF lead to 3-2 at 2:05 of the second. Late in the second period, Bentley challenged a hit by Falcon defenseman Chris Hedden. Hedden was called for a major penalty for contact to the head and a game misconduct. With 48 seconds left in the second, Bentley's Kellen Hjartarson scored on the power play to tie the game at 3-3.

The Falcons killed the remaining 2:22 of the major penalty to start the third period. Once back to even strength, the Falcons went on to score four goals in the third period. Mason McCormick put back a rebound of Gavin's shot at 6:23 for the eventual game-winner. Brian Adams gave the Falcons a 5-3 lead when he put back a rebound of Sam Brennan's shot at 9:52. Gavin's third of the game came with a slap shot from the right circle with 7:38 left in the game. With 2:07 left and on the rush, Holt Oliphant and Austin Schwartz set up Luke Robinson for his second of the season and a 7-3 lead.
Bentley outshot Air Force, 26-24. Air Force was 3-for-8 on the power play while Bentley was 2-for-8. Guy Blessing made 23 saves for the Falcons. Connor Hasley made 17 for Bentley.

"We played well all weekend, but we had to overcome ourselves with some penalties in both games," head coach Frank Serratore said. " We didn't drop a lot of bombs this weekend, but the ones that we did could have been nuclear. We had our backs to the wall early in that third period and it was vital that we killed that penalty. Give our guys credit for killing it. I couldn't be more proud of the guys. They competed hard and executed well all weekend. We have been playing well the last several games, we just haven't been able to score. This weekend, just about everything we threw at the net went in. Sometimes, that's hockey."

Air Force returns home for a two-game league series against AIC, Friday-Saturday, Jan. 12-13, at the Cadet Ice Arena.

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