Falcons move into three-way tie for first place

Air Force hockey fans who braved the wintry conditions to find their way to Cadet Ice Arena in the snow Friday night were not disappointed.

That dedicated horde joined a host of rowdy cadets in the stands and saw their beloved Falcons blank league-leading RIT 3-0 in a game that was televised nationally on CBS Sports Network. Casey Kleisinger, Chad Demers and John Kruse scored for Air Force, and Jason Torf gave the Falcons their second shutout win in three games.

Air Force (13-7-6, 11-4-5 Atlantic Hockey Association) improved to 3-0-2 in its past five games, while RIT (15-9-3, 12-5-3) lost for the first time in seven games. The victory gave the Falcons 27 points, tied with RIT and Niagara for first place in the AHA.

The teams have now split two games this season, with the rubber match coming tonight.

“It feels very good,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “They had to exert a lot of energy defending early, and we were fortunate – especially with our inability to score on the power play. It’s always important to score the first goal, and Casey (Kleisinger) got a beautiful short-handed goal.”

Air Force clung to a shaky 1-0 lead early in the third, with RIT controlling the flow of the action. The Falcons made the most of a chance at the Tigers’ end of the ice, however, with freshman Demers redirecting a Scott Mathis shot from the point into the net 7:42 into the final period for a two-goal advantage.

Kruse added a goal off a pass from Demers with 2:01 remaining in the game to give the Falcons their final margin of victory.

With the Tigers on a power play, Mike Walsh flung the puck off the boards down the ice to Kleisinger behind RIT’s defenders, and Kleisinger turned the opportunity into a short-handed goal for the Falcons just 1:50 into the second period. It was the sophomore’s seventh goal of the season.

“This is huge for us,” Kleisinger said. “Every single game is pretty much like a playoff game at this point, and we’ve really been trying to prepare ourselves to play these close games. They’re a really tough team to play when they get the first goal, so we were fortunate to get it tonight.”

RIT peppered the net the last half of the second period, but Torf (2-2-1) withstood the onslaught. The Tigers finished the second period on a power play after Tony Thomas was called for roughing, but could not find the net.

RIT finished the period with a 10-8 shot advantage in the second period, with the Falcons carrying a 25-16 shot lead into the final 20 minutes.

Torf emerged from the locker room wearing a combat helmet, which is given by the team after each win to a player who battles and excels on the ice.

“This year has been a bit of an emotional roller-coaster, so this was huge for me,” said Torf, who missed three months of the season with a groin injury. “(RIT) got some stuff going, but I thought we did an excellent job of limiting where they were taking their shots from. Our team did a great job clearing rebounds, so I didn’t have to make too many second saves either.”

Air Force struggled on the power play, finishing 0-for-7 on the night with an extra-man advantage. The Falcons are 0-for-13 in their past two games on the power play.

“I’m real concerned, and the (power play) numbers are terrible,” Serratore said. “It’s not so much our in-zone play, but our faceoffs. We lost the faceoff to start every power play, and it’s demoralizing.

“We’ve got to get better on the dot.”

RIT standout goalie Shane Madolora (13-5-2) stopped 31 shots, but lost for the first time since Jan. 6.

The Falcons came out with intensity in the first period, outshooting RIT 17-6 thanks to that energy and a pair of power plays. But Madolora stopped all of Air Force’s shots, and the teams went to the first intermission locked in a scoreless tie.

Serratore expects the Tigers to pull out all the stops in tonight’s series capper.

“You can bet they’re going to come out guns blazing,” he said. “That’s a really good team and a proud team. They’ve only been swept one time in league play in five years, and that was here a couple years ago.

“In the past five years, there have been 10 league championships, and nine of those 10 have been won by the two teams on the ice tonight.”