Falcons bounce back for 6-2 win over St. Thomas

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Air Force scored three goals in the second period for a 6-2 win over St. Thomas in a non-conference college hockey game Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Cadet Ice Arena. Air Force rebounded from an 11-2 loss in game one to earn its first win of the season in game two.

St. Thomas (2-3-0) opened the scoring on the power play as Alex Gaffney scored from Nick Williams and Casy Laylin at 11:50. Air Force (1-2-1) tied the game late in the period. Falcon winger Will Dawson drew a penalty and shortly after the power-play expired, Dawson redirected a shot by Chris Hedden at 15:58.

Air Force scored three goals in the second period for a 4-1 advantage. Sophomore defenseman Ren Morque scored his first career goal on a redirect of a shot by Sam Stitz at 11:09. Nick Sajevic also assisted on the play for a 2-1 lead. Dawson netted his career-high second of the game when he tipped in a shot by Jake Peterson at 13:01. The top line scored its fourth of the game at 18:11 when Peterson whistled a shot from the right point that went bar down from Stitz and Sajevic for a 4-1 lead.

Early in the third period, St. Thomas cut the Falcon lead to 4-2 on a goal by Joshua Giuliani at 3:31. The Falcons held the two-goal lead deep into the third before the Tommies pulled the goalie with 3:38 remaining. Air Force scored a pair of empty-net goals by Brendan Gibbons (17:21) and Holt Oliphant (18:58).

"Last night was a disaster, but the way we bounced back tonight was inspiring," head coach Frank Serratore said. "These kids are so resilient and stay so positive. This was a special win after what we went through tonight. Of our 19 skaters, we only had six upperclassmen in the lineup. When they scored that second goal, things could have gotten a little hairy, but Clafton was the better goalie tonight. For our young team, last night was a bad experience, but tonight was a much better one and hopefully we learned from the weekend."

Air Force outshot St. Thomas, 29-27, in the game. The Tommies were 1-for-4 on the power play while Air Force was 0-for-4. Carter Clafton stopped 25 of 27 shots for the Falcons. Carsen Musser made 23 for the Tommies.

Air Force opens Atlantic Hockey America play at RIT, Oct. 24-25, in Rochester, N.Y.

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