It was a tale of two games for Air Force last weekend.
On Friday, the Falcons opened their season with an 8-1 loss on home ice to 20th-ranked Arizona State. Nothing went right for coach Frank Serratore’s team, which allowed three short-handed breakaway goals in the loss. The Sun Devils tacked on a pair of power-play goals to cruise to the win.
“We could have been down 12-1,” said Serratore. “As I always say, it usually comes down to goaltending and special teams, and we lost big in those areas.
“But we battled back on Saturday.”
The Falcons saw themselves down 2-0 in the first five minutes of Saturday’s contest and could have packed it in for the weekend.
But Brendan Gibbons got Air Force on the board late in the first period, and senior Clayton Consentino scored his second of three goals on the weekend midway through the second period to knot the score at 2-2.
But with less than a minute to go the third period, ASU’s Ryan Kirwan put the Sun Devils back in front. It looked like despite a valiant effort, the Falcons were headed towards being on the wrong end of a weekend sweep.
“Heartbreak hotel,” said Serratore of the late Sun Devils goal. “But we persevered.”
With goalie Guy Blessing pulled for an extra attacker, Gibbons scored his second goal of the contest to tie things up with 27 seconds to play.
Still in it!! Gibbons taking us to OT😤 pic.twitter.com/TeNGHCFbJT
— Air Force Hockey (@AF_HKY) October 6, 2024
In the overtime, ASU’s Bennett Schimek broke his stick and had to resort to taking a holding penalty, resulting in a Falcons power play. At that point, Air Force had been 0-9 with the man advantage for the weekend, but picked the perfect time to break through on Consentino’s game-winner 2:44 into the extra frame.
IT'S @AF_HKY WITH THE COMEBACK OVERTIME WIN OVER ARIZONA STATE!@Atlantic_Hockey #AtlanticHockey #CollegeHockey #NCAAHockey pic.twitter.com/UAUYVbvmMd
— FloHockey (@FloHockey) October 6, 2024
“(Assistant coach) John Holmstrom drew up the play,” said Serratore. “And it worked to perfection.”
It was a nice 4-3 comeback win for the Falcons to earn a split with a nationally ranked team.
“I’m really proud of our guys,” said Serratore. “After losing 8-1 on Friday and getting down 2-0 early on Saturday, it didn’t look good. We were outscored 10-1 at that point.
“To come back and tie it with less than a minute to play, after they had just taken the lead, and win it in overtime. I’ve been coaching 40 years and there’s been only four of five of games like that. It was magical.”
Senior goalie Guy Blessing struggled on Friday, but rebounded to post 32 saves on 35 shots on Saturday. He was subsequently named AHA goaltender of the week.
Serratore had no doubts in going back to Blessing on Saturday after pulling him on Friday.
“He’s our guy,” said Serratore. “No pun intended.”
When I talked to Serratore on Monday, he was heading home after attending funeral services in Grafton, ND for former Falcon Chad Demers, who passed away last week after a long battle with brain cancer. Demers starred for the Falcons from 2012-2015 and was most recently an assistant coach at Augustana.
Serratore said he couldn’t help but notice the 4-1 (exhibition) upset by Augustana over North Dakota on Saturday, coupled with his teams wild comeback that same night.
“I’m not a very religious person,” he said. “I’m usually in church for weddings and funerals, but I couldn’t help but look at that and think that maybe Chad had something to do with it.”
Next up for the Falcons is a trip to Las Vegas to face No. 5 Minnesota in the first round of the Ice Breaker Tournament. Air Force will play either Massachusetts or Omaha in the second round.
Serratore says his team needs to stick to a winning formula against the Gophers and beyond.
“We need the upperclassmen to do what they are supposed to do – lead,” he said. “But we also need the freshmen and sophomores to play above their pay grade.
“We need to roll four lines and wear teams down in the third period.”
