Falcons fall to No. 5 Minnesota, 7-1

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Minnesota, ranked fifth in the nation, scored four goals in the second period en route to a 7-1 win over Air Force on the first day of the annual Ice Breaker Tournament, Friday, Oct. 11, at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.

Minnesota (1-0-0) opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game. Gopher center Jimmy Clark started a 2-on-1 rush and Connor Kurth scored his first of the season at 1:47. Minnesota outshot Air Force, 9-6, in the first period.

The Gophers took a 3-1 lead with two goals in a span of 76 seconds early in the second period. Kurth netted his second of the game on the rush at 6:23. Defenseman Ryan Chesley put the Gophers up 3-1 at 7:39. On the rush, Sam Rinzel gave the Gophers a 4-1 lead on the rush at 9:31.

Air Force (1-2-0) got on the board with a power-play goal at 14:46. Owen Dubois won a faceoff in the offensive zone and then set up in the front of the net. Will Staring gave the puck to Nolan Cunningham at the right point and Dubois redirected it to cut the Minnesota lead to 4-1. With 1:46 left in the second, Beckett Hendrickson scored for a 5-1 lead.

The Gophers added two goals early in the third period as Kurth completed the hat trick at 2:00 and Chesley scored at 2:29.

Minnesota outshot Air Force, 33-22. The Falcons were 1-for-3 on the power play while UM was 0-for-2. Falcon goalie Guy Blessing played 43 minutes and had 20 saves. Sophomore Carter Clafton came on in relief and made five saves in 17 minutes. Minnesota goalie Nathan Airey had 21 saves.

"We have to learn how to play together," head coach Frank Serratore said. "We have to manage the game better and protect the good ice. We had so many self-inflicted wounds. It was a case of death by a thousand paper cuts. We had a few nuclear mistakes and we had some weak links tonight. We are not connected as a group and not singing off the same sheet of music. Obviously they are have some superior athletes and they are a high-powered group.They are the elite of the elite. I like our team a lot, but it is going to take some time to get some experience and get better. But when the dust settles late in the year, we will become the team that we want to be and we will be difficult to play against."

Air Force will play No.14 UMass, in the final game of the tournament, Saturday, Oct. 12, at 4:05 pm PT in Las Vegas, Nev.

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Team Stats

Owen Dubois

Will Staring

Nolan Cunningham

Clayton Cosentino

Players Mentioned

Guy Blessing

Carter Clafton

Nolan Cunningham

Owen Dubois

Will Staring

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