Falcons win 3-2 at Bentley, jump into sixth place

WALTHAM, Mass. – Three Falcons scored and Dominik Wasik made 34 saves as Air Force defeated Bentley, 3-2, in an Atlantic Hockey America game Friday, Feb. 27, at the Bentley Ice Arena, in Waltham, Mass. With the win, Air Force jumped ahead of Canisius for sixth place in the AHA standings. Bentley has already clinched the AHA regular season title and is receiving votes in the national poll.

Air Force (16-13-4, 12-10-3 AHA) opened the scoring at 8:26 of the first period as Nolan Cunningham scored his seventh of the season. Mason McCormick won a faceoff in the offensive and Brendan Gibbons dug the puck out to Chris Hedden. Hedden set up Cunningham for a 1-0 lead. With eight seconds left in the first period, Air Force took a 2-0 lead on Will Dawson's power-play goal. Cunningham set up Nick Sajevic for a shot on the right side and Dawson cleaned up the rebound.

Bentley (18-10-5, 16-5-4 AHA) cut the Falcon lead in half early in the second period. Alec Leonard scored his fourth of the season just 46 seconds into the second period. Bentley outshot Air Force, 15-6, in the second period, but the Falcons held on to the one-goal lead.

Early in the third period, freshman Oliver Genest intercepted a pass at the blue line and scored his fifth goal in the last five games for a 3-1 lead at 1:09. Late in the period, Bentley's Kellen Hjartarson scored on the power play to cut the Falcon lead to 3-2.

With 1:55 left in the third, Bentley was pulling the goalie for the extra attacker. However, the puck ended up in front of Bentley's bench and Bentley was called for too many men on the ice. Bentley pulled the goalie again, with Air Force on the power play, but neither team scored as Air Force earned its 16^th win of the season.

Bentley outshot Air Force, 36-27. Air Force was 1-for-3 on the power play and Bentley was 1-for-4. Nicholas Bevilacqua made 24 saves for the home team.

"We never trailed in the game," head coach Frank Serratore said. "We mounted that 2-0 and we knew they would come out strong in the second period. They have a culture of winning, but we got through that period. Structurally we were good and we got a great game from Wasik. This was a must-win for us and we found a way to get it done. The mountain that we had to climb this weekend is still there, but it is not as high of a mountain as it was before this win."

Air Force is two points ahead of Canisius for sixth place. The Falcons need at least one point on Saturday to clinch sixth place and avoid a single-elimination playoff game on Tuesday, March 3. The only way for Canisius to jump ahead of Air Force is if the Falcons lose to Bentley in regulation and Canisius beats Niagara in regulation.

Air Force and Bentley conclude the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 6:05 pm ET in Waltham, Mass.

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