Three Things from this past weekend in Atlantic Hockey:
Double trouble
There were three sweeps this weekend, with Army taking four points from Canisius, Air Force defeating Rochester Institute of Technology twice, and Robert Morris taking a pair of games from Sacred Heart.
In the RIT/AFA and RMU/SHU series, the scores of the two games were identical: the Falcons had a pair of 4-3 wins, while the Colonials cruised to two 4-1 victories.
In the RIT – Air Force series, not only was the score the same each night, so was the story line. In both cases, the Falcons opened 3-0 leads only to see the Tigers claw back to tie the game. But Air Force broke the tie each night with the decisive goal.
Friday’s contest was more dramatic, with Jordan Himley getting the game-winner with just 1:13 to play.
On Saturday, Dan Bailey’s GWG came with just three seconds left…in the second period. The Falcons were able to hold off RIT in the third despite the Tigers outshooting them 13-4.
Air Force moved to 4-2 con league play, good enough for third place. RIT (3-5) has now lost four conference games in a row and fell to eighth.
Fit to be…
Because American International now plays its home games at the MassMutual Center, sharing the facility with the Springfield Thunderbirds of the American Hockey League, the Yellow Jackets have had to get creative with their schedule.
That’s why they hosted a series with Bentley on a Tuesday and Thursday instead of a weekend.
Both games ended in ties, making it four consecutive times the teams have deadlocked, dating back to Jan. 23 of last season.
On Tuesday, Bentley’s Max French got the equalizer in a 2-2 draw with just 3:09 left in regulation. On Thursday, AIC erased a 1-0 Bentley lead with a goal by Johno May midway through the contest.
The teams don’t meet again unless they wind up tangling in the postseason, and we won’t have a tie should that happen.
Getting his shot
All 11 Atlantic Hockey teams had an established starting goaltender heading into this season, but some freshman have gotten a chance to get between the pipes so far, with positive results.
Freshman Colin DeAugustine has started in Mercyhurst’s last three games, including helping the Lakers to a 4-2 win on Saturday. He made 17 saves for the win, but may have been more impressive in a 3-2 loss to the Crusaders on Friday, when he made 39 saves.
So far, DeAugustine has an impressive .922 save percentage and a 2.68 GAA.
