Falcons and Lakers skate to 3-3 overtime tie

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Air Force and Mercyhurst skated to a 3-3 overtime tie in an Atlantic Hockey America game, Friday, Feb. 13, at the Cadet Ice Arena. The Lakers earned the second point in the standings as Christian Kocsis scored in the fifth round of the shootout.

In a scoreless first period, Air Force outshot Mercyhurst, 15-4, as the Lakers didn't get their first shot until eight minutes into the opening period.

The teams combined for three goals in a two-minute span of the second period. Mercyhurst (4-22-3, 4-14-3 AHA) opened the scoring when Kocsis put back a rebound of Sean James' shot at 1:08. Air Force (14-12-3, 10-9-2 AHA) tied the game 26 seconds later when freshman Oliver Genest scored his first career goal. Genest redirected a shot by Holt Oliphant at 1:34. The Lakers regained the lead when Ryan Coughlin tipped in a centering pass from Jacob Leblanc at 3:03. Genest scored the next two goals for the first hat trick by a Falcon since Austin Schwartz late last season. Chris Hedden made a long outlet pass to Genest at the far blue line. Genest's wrister at 7:05 of the second tied the game at 2-2. Genest struck again at 16:22 of the second as Oliphant dropped a pass in the slot and the freshman gave the Falcons a 3-2 lead.

Early in the third period, the fire alarm at the Cadet Ice Arena went off, creating a 22-minute delay. Coming out of the delay, the Lakers tied the score with 10:37 remaining in the third. Alexander Dimitriadis won a faceoff in the offensive zone and Lukas Klemm scored from the center point.

Air Force outshot Mercyhurst, 7-1, in the overtime period, the game went to a shootout. With the shootout tied at 2-2 in the fifth round, Kocsis scored to give the Lakers the shootout win.

Air Force outshot Mercyhurst, 43-20, in the game. There was only one combined penalty in the game and the Lakers were 0-for-1 on the power play. Mercyhurst senior Sal Evola had 40 saves. Dominik Wasik made 17 for the Falcons.

"They won this game because they didn't beat themselves," head coach Frank Serratore said. "They protected the good ice. There were more scary situations around Wasik then we had around their guy. They didn't give us any out-numbered opportunities and they didn't take any penalties."

Air Force and Mercyhurst meet in game two on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 5:05 pm MT at the Cadet Ice Arena.

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Team Stats

Oliver Genest

Holt Oliphant

Chris Hedden

Will Staring

Players Mentioned

Oliver Genest

Chris Hedden

Holt Oliphant

Austin Schwartz

Dominik Wasik

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