Behind a 36-save effort from freshman goaltender Jason Torf, the Air Force Falcons held on to edge the Clarkson Golden Knights, 2-1, at Magness Arena in the first game of the Denver Cup. Air Force will play Denver tomorrow night. Colorado native Brad Sellers, a senior, got the game-winning goal for Air Force.
“I grew up going to these Denver Cups and seeing all those players and just wanting to get out there,” said Sellers. “To get that chance, to get the game-winner, was pretty awesome.”
Air Force got the early lead on a pretty give-and-go play. Matt Becker passed it to Blake Page at the blue line, and Page held the puck as he crossed the line, then fed it back to Becker near the right circle. Becker lifted the puck top corner over Cody Rosen’s glove at 4:30 of the first.
“Overall, it was a pretty good effort from our guys tonight and a fine line between winning and losing,” said Clarkson coach George Roll.
Air Force had a couple of excellent chances to build the lead, including a breakaway by Jacques Lamoureux that Rosen made a big stop on. In the second period, Nick Pokulok was called for a five-minute major and game misconduct for hitting from behind, and it seemed the Falcons were in good shape. However, after a couple of failed chances early in the power play, they got careless in their zone, turning the puck over twice, and the second led to a goal bt Nick Tremblay, who got the puck near the right boards and stepped out untouched into the crease, beating Torf high glove side at 8:17.
“You know our team has come a ways when we have a 1-0 lead, we get a five-minute major with a chance to put the game a long ways out of reach, and we give up a short-handed goal,” said Falcons coach Frank Serratore. “How did we respond? We didn’t panic. We hunkered down and got the next goal and took a lead into the third period. An immature team, that can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It’s not often you win games where you don’t out special-team the opponent. They had the shorty, we had nothing.”
The rest of the period had back-and-forth action, with neither team generating strong chances. However, sloppy defense cost the Golden Knights late. Right off a draw won by Page, Sellers ripped a snap shot from the left point that beat Rosen low at 17:32.
“I think that was huge for us, because it shows the maturity of our team, to respond to the short-handed goal,” said Sellers. “That’s a huge step for us. It was a great win by Blake Page and I pulled it to the middle. To be honest, I was just thinking ‘Don’t get it blocked.’ I saw a little opening to the side, and it was a little muffin of a shot, but it went in.”
“They had traffic in front and that’s what happens when pucks get through,” said Roll. “I thought that was the one area we didn’t do a good job of.”
The third period saw good goaltending from both teams. Torf stopped Allan McPherson on a breakaway early, while Rosen made a big stop on Mitch Torrel alone in the slot. With just under a minute to go, Air Force’s Mike Walsh was called for cross-checking. Roll pulled Rosen for the six-on-four, but the Golden Knights just missed on a couple of passes to a player back door, and the Falcons cleared it to hold on the the win.
“We tried to keep to the outside and block shots,” said Sellers. “What was nice was we could ice the puck when we did get it, so that kind of helped us.”
“We had two good opportunities and just couldn’t finish it,” said Roll. “I thought we did a good job of controlling the puck down low, but we weren’t hungry enough around the net. When we had opportunities, we looked for the extra pass.”
“We’re just excited to play Denver,” said Serratore. “Right now, we’re finding ways to win in different ways. We’re excited for the chance to play Denver with a chance to win the Denver Cup. If we can take down Goliath, we win the Denver Cup. That’d be fun.”
