Three things from the past weekend in Atlantic Hockey (stepping up to the plate):
Grand Slams
Four points on a weekend is often a difficult task to accomplish in Atlantic Hockey, but this past weekend saw three of five series decided entirely in favor of the host school.
Not that things weren’t close in two of the three series. At Air Force, the Falcons led Niagara for only a total of three minutes and forty seconds in the two games, but engineered two 4-3 come-from behind victories, including an overtime thriller on Saturday.
The scores were also identical between Canisius and Holy Cross, with the host Golden Griffins coming on on top in a pair of 2-1 games that also included overtime on Saturday.
Mercyhurst had an easier time with Sacred Heart, winning 7-2 on Friday and coming back from an early 2-0 deficit on Saturday to take the series with a 4-2 win.
Hitting 300
Air Force’s win on Saturday was the 300th career victory at the school for Falcons coach Frank Serratore. He has 349 career wins including a stint at Denver, but it’s been 17 seasons at Air Force where he’s truly made his mark.
“I didn’t even realize this was my 300th win,” Serratore said after Saturday’s victory. “Thanks to the Academy for allowing me to be here long enough to win that many games. You don’t win without great players and great assistant coaches and I have been very fortunate.”
Men in scoring position
Yeah, it’s a stretch but I’m keeping with the baseball motif (opening day is only 83 days away!). In this case, I’m talking about big time goal scorers, and the league has several players at or near the top of D-I.
American International’s Austin Orszulak scored the tying goal with 6.8 seconds left at Rochester Institute of Technology to help the Yellow Jackets to earn a point against the Tigers on Friday. He scored another in a 3-2 loss to RIT on Saturday. Those were Orszulak’s 14th and 15th goals of the season, tied with Union’s Daniel Ciampini for the national lead.
Right behind with 14 are Bentley’s Andrew Gladiuk and Max French, who’s most recent tally was the lone goal and game-winner for the Falcons in a 1-0 win at Robert Morris on Saturday to earn a weekend split with the first-place Colonials.
Also at 14 is RIT’s Matt Garbowsky, who didn’t light the lamp against AIC, but contributed three assists on the weekend.
So the countdown continues with just seven weekends left in the regular season. And only 37 days until pitchers and catchers report.
