Wasik stops career-high 43 in 5-1 win at St. Thomas

Team	1	2	3	F
Air Force	2	1	2	5
St. Thomas (MN)	0	0	1	1

Air Force

St. Thomas (MN)

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Senior Dominik Wasik made a career-high 43 saves as Air Force defeated St. Thomas, 5-1, in the season opener for both teams at Anderson Arena in St. Paul, Minn. St. Thomas was receiving votes in both national polls entering the series.

Air Force (1-0-0 overall) opened the scoring midway through the period. Sophomore defenseman Simon Houge's shot was wide, but Nick Sajevic collected the puck, stick-handled around the goalie and scored the 12^th of his career at 13:18. Senior captain Brendan Gibbons also assisted on the play. After Sam Stitz drew a penalty, the Falcons capitalized on the power play. Aidan Willis won the ensuing faceoff and Oliver Genest fed Ren Morque at the center point. Morque netted his fourth career goal at 17:36.

Early in the second period, freshman Christian Kim forced a turnover in the Tommies end, skated in uncontested and scored his first career collegiate goal at 2:46. The Tommies outshot Air Force, 16-5, in the second period, but the Falcons held on to the 3-0 lead after 40 minutes.

With Air Force on a power play early in the third, St. Thomas had an offensive zone faceoff. Jakub Altrichter won the faceoff, went to the front of the net and scored a short-handed goal at 3:33 to cut the Falcon lead to 3-1. With just over three minutes left and trailing by two, St. Thomas pulled the goalie. Air Force quickly found the empty net as Sam Stitz scored from deep in his own end with 3:03 left. St. Thomas pulled the goalie again and the Falcons scored again. Stitz and Nichol sent the puck out of the zone and Sajevic scored his second of the night for a 5-1 lead with 1:57 remaining.

St. Thomas outshot Air Force, 44-28. Air Force was 1-for-4 on the power play while STU was 0-for-3. Carsen Musser made 23 saves for the Tommies.

"That was a huge win for us," head coach Frank Serratore said. "You either find ways to win these games and overcome the adversity or you succumb to it. We didn't do anything to beat ourselves tonight. We led from start to finish and we eliminated those fatal mistakes that we had a week ago against Omaha. It is always a good thing when the best player on the ice is in our own net."

Air Force and St. Thomas meet in game two of the series on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 6:05 pm CT at Anderson Arena in St. Paul, Minn.

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