Air Force hosts Lindenwood, Oct. 18,20

Air Force hosts Lindenwood, Oct. 18,20
Falcons and Lions meet in Friday-Sunday series

THE GAMES
Game 1: Friday, Oct. 18, 7:05 pm MT, Lindenwood Lions, Cadet Ice Arena
Game 2: Sunday, Oct. 20, 3:35 pm MT, Lindenwood Lions, Cadet Ice Arena

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television:        Friday: Altitude TV (Brian Roth, Ryan Kaufman)
Stream:              Both games on FloHockey
Radio:                 XtraSports 1300 AM (Jay Ritchie, Dave Toller); xtrasports1300.com
Live Stats          StatBroadcast (Link is on AF hockey schedule)

THE BREAKDOWN
Quick Facts: Air Force                            Lindenwood
Record:              1-3-0                                    1-1-0
Streak:                L 2                                         L 1
Last Game:     L vs. UMass, 5-1                   L at Wisconsin, 3-2 ot
Next Series:    at AIC, Oct. 25-26               at Miami, Oct. 25-26

THE COACHES
Head Coach:                                 Frank Serratore                             Bill Muckalt
School Record:                             457-439-99 (28th yr)                 1-1-0 (1st yr)
Career Record:                             506-531-108 (32nd yr)              1-1-0 (1st yr)

THE SERIES
Overall:              Tied 2-2
Last Meeting: LU, 4-3 ot, (H)
Streak:                LU, W 1

One Timers
* Air Force opened the season by splitting at home with No. 20 Arizona State
* After an 8-1 loss in game one, the Falcons rallied from two goals down to win game two, 4-3 in overtime.
* Senior Clayton Cosentino tied his career highs of two goals and three points, Oct. 5, including the game-winning, power play goal in overtime
* Cosentino has a point in three of the four games this season
* Nolan Cunningham and Nick Remissong have a point in two of the four games.
* Freshman Brendan Gibbons had a career-high two goals, including the game-tying goal with 27 seconds left in the third
* Guy Blessing stopped 32 of 35 in the 4-3 overtime win
* Air Force dropped a pair of games at the Ice Breaker in Las Vegas to No. 5 Minnesota (7-1, Oct. 11) and to No. 14 UMass (5-1, Oct. 12)
* Blessing matched his season high with 32 saves against the Minutemen
* Owen Dubois and Chris Hedden scored their first goals of the season, both on the power play
* Air Force scored a power-play goal in three straight games
* Air Force had a season-high 34 shots against UMass.
* Air Force finished the 2023-24 season 18-19-1 overall and 15-10-1 in Atlantic Hockey
* Air Force's fourth-place finish in the AHA was the highest since the Falcons finished third in 2019.
* Air Force's 18 wins were the most since the 2017-18 team went 23-15-5, won the AHA Tournament and reached the NCAA Elite Eight.
* The Falcons hosted an AHA quarterfinal series, but fell to AIC, 3-1 and 3-2 OT, March 8-9.
* The Falcons' 34 power-play goals last season led the AHA and were ninth in the nation.
* Air Force led the AHA and was seventh in the nation with a .542 faceoff winning percentage.
* Air Force's penalty kill (84.8) was third in the AHA and sixth in the nation.

Series Record
Air Force and Lindenwood have met four times and the all-time series is tied at two wins each. The teams met last season at the Academy and split the series with Air Force winning game one, 4-1, and Lindenwood winning game two, 4-3 in overtime. Air Force and Lindenwood also split a series in St. Louis in 2022. Lindenwood came from behind to win the first game (7-6) and the Falcons won game two, 5-3. The teams also played an exhibition series in St. Louis, Oct. 23-24, 2021, and the Falcons won both games.

About the Lions
Lindenwood (1-1-0) opened the season with a 4-2 win at No. 9 Wisconsin, Oct. 11. Jaeden Mercier opened the scoring for an early Lion lead. Mercier than gave the Lions a 2-1 lead and Alex Lundman put LU up 3-1. After a Badger goal, Artyom Borshyov put the Lions up 4-2. UW outshot LU, 36-19, but Owen Bartoszkiewicz made 34 saves. In the second game, LU took a 2-0 lead on goals by Ethan Zielke and David Gagnon. UW scored late in the second. UW tied the game with 5:31 remaining in the third and then netted the game winner with 18 seconds remaining in overtime. UW outshot LU, 45-17, but Bartoszkiewicz made 42 saves. Bartoszkiewicz is a transfer from Minnesota where he played six games in 2022-23, before going back to the USHL and NAHL in 2023-24. The Lions have two graduate students, seven seniors and eight transfers under first-year head coach Bill Muckalt.

Last Season vs. Lindenwood
Game 1: Guy Blessing made 35 saves and Austin Schwartz scored two goals as Air Force defeated Lindenwood, 4-1, in the season opener for both teams, Oct. 7, at the Cadet Ice Arena. Holt Oliphant gave Air Force a 1-0 lead in the second period. Lindenwood answered just 45 seconds later as Drew Kuzma scored. The Falcons regained the lead late in the second period as Will Gavin scored with 1:43 left in the second. The Falcons held the one-goal lead until midway through the third period when Schwartz who gave the Falcons a 3-1 lead. Schwartz scored an empty-netters 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.
Game 2: Lindenwood's David Gagnon scored at 2:59 of overtime to lift the Lions to a 4-3 win over Air Force, Oct. 8, at the Cadet Ice Arena. Lindenwood opened the scoring just 3:28 into the game as Drew Kuzma scored his second of the series and a 1-0 lead. Clayton Cosentino tied the game on the power play at 6:39. Lindenwood scored two goals in less than four minutes in the second period for a 3-1 lead on goals by Jake Southgate and Caige Sterzer. Schwartz scored his third of series lat in the second to cut the Lion lead to 3-2. With the extra attacker on the ice, Parker Brown tied the game at 3-3 with one second remaining in regulation. Gagnon ended the game with a one-timer on the right side at 2:59 of overtime. Air Force outshot Lindenwood, 35-30, in the game. The Falcons were 1-for-6 on the power play and killed all four of the Lion power plays. Guy Blessing made 26 saves for the Falcons while Trent Burnham made 32 for Lindenwood. The Lions blocked 18 shots in the game.

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Players Mentioned

Guy Blessing

Parker Brown

Clayton Cosentino

Nolan Cunningham

Owen Dubois

Will Gavin

Brendan Gibbons

Chris Hedden

Holt Oliphant

Nick Remissong

Austin Schwartz

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