Air Force edges Holy Cross in AHA semifinals

Rochester, N.Y. • It’s one thing to score a lot of goals, Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. It’s another thing to score big goals.

And that’s what Jacques Lamoureux does for the Falcons.

Lamoureux scored twice in the final 10 minutes, leading Air Force to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Holy Cross in the Atlantic Hockey Association semifinals Friday night.

“These are probably the biggest goals I’ve scored,” said Lamoureux, the AHA’s all-time goal scorer in league play.

Lamoureux has 23 goals this season and 78 in his heralded three-year career.

“It’s uncanny, it’s a gift,” Serratore gushed.

Air Force (19-11-6) will face defending playoff champion Rochester Institute of Technology (18-10-8), a 4-2 winner over Connecticut, in today’s title game at 5 p.m. The two schools have combined for all four AHA tournament titles since joining the league.

In a thrilling up-and-down affair, Holy Cross (17-16-5) scored late in the second period to tie the game and Erik Vos tallied at 2:51 of the third to put the Crusaders on top.

“As a team this whole year, we’ve been able to come back from behind,” the Falcons’ Kyle De Laurell said. “I think it’s just the confidence that we built over the year, knowing that we can come back. We didn’t panic. We kept playing our game.”

Lamoureux’s linemates, Derrick Burnett and De Laurell, were buzzing around the Holy Cross cage when De Laurell made a backhand pass to Lamoureux in the left face-off circle. Goalie Adam Roy got a piece of the shot with his left goal pad but it slipped through at the 9:26 mark.

“I put it on the net quick, and it squeaked through the legs,” Lamoureux said. “I didn’t realize it went in right away.”

The game-winner came with 4:16 to play. De Laurell burst into the Holy Cross zone and dumped the puck back to Lamoureux as he was about to absorb a check.

“We were talking about driving to the net,” Lamoureux said, “but if I went I would have skated right into one of their players. I came in from behind Del and he’s able to run ‘low interference’ for me and he dropped the puck. I was able to shift the puck to the side and put it on net. Fortunately, it went in.”

Jason Torf made 11 of his 28 saves in the final period to preserve the victory.

Air Force went on top late in the first period on a fluke goal. Defenseman Scott Mathis ripped a shot from high in the slot that sailed wide left. However, the rebound off the end boards came straight out and caromed off Roy’s skates and into the net at the 15:39 mark.

Holy Cross tied the game at 14:50 of the second period. Shayne Stockton gathered the puck at the bottom of the right circle and whipped a high shot that clipped Torf’s shoulder and fell into the net. The goal snapped Torf’s scoreless streak of 94 minutes, 50 seconds.

Air Force improved to 7-1 in playoff games at Blue Cross Arena. The Falcons posted a pair of wins during their three title years (2007-09) and lost to Sacred Heart in the 2010 semifinal round.

In the first semifinal, RIT chased Connecticut starting goalie Garrett Bartus with three goals in the opening 14:23 of the game. The Huskies pulled within 3-2 but Sean Murphy’s second goal of the game, against backup Matt Grogan, came with 3:28 to play and restored RIT’s two-goal edge.

Goalie of the Year Shane Madolora made 39 stops.