Box Score

Colorado Springs, Colo. - Junior David Turco (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) and senior Chris Bolognino (Carol Stream, Ill.) each scored as the American International College ice hockey squad tied the Air Force Falcons 2-2 in an Atlantic Hockey showdown at the Cadet Ice Arena Friday evening in Colorado. The tie moves AIC to 8-20-5 overall and 8-16-3 in the conference while the Falcons move to 16-11-6 overall and 13-9-5 in the AHA.

For the Yellow Jackets, it marks their first point against the Falcons. Air Force had taken 14 prior matches dating back to the 1979-1980 season. Junior goalie Tom Fenton who played well all night, stopping 22 shots, hadn't started a game in net for AIC since a January 5th non-conference match-up with Robert Morris. AIC goes to 0-1-4 on the season in overtime with ties against ECAC squads Dartmouth and RPI and conference foe Sacred Heart.

The Falcons posted the contest's first score when defensemen Greg Flynn notched his sixth goal of the season, snapping a shot from just inside the blue-line home a little over three minutes into the first-period. The Jackets evened the score at one when junior Turco drifted through the defense and flicked a wrist-shot past the shoulder of Falcon goalie Andrew Volkening. Turco's score was his fourth of the season, and it was assisted by sophomore Mike McMillan (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) and freshman Mike Little (Enfield, Conn.), with 9:50 showing on the clock in the first stanza.

Heading into the second period Air Force held a 10-3 shot advantage. Fenton held strong in net posting nine first stanza stops.

Senior Chris Bolognino (Carol Stream, Ill.) blasted a slap-shot home off of a face-off feed from another senior Greg Genovese (Hingham, Mass.) just 29 ticks into the second period, giving AIC a 2-1 lead. Despite several scoring opportunities for the Yellow Jackets, Air Force stuck back and tied the score with a power-play goal from Josh Frider 24 seconds after the halfway point in the second. That would prove to be all the scoring for both sides.

After a tightly played third in which neither side post a goal, the game was sent into overtime. In the extra frame, both teams threatened numerous times but were unable to score the game-winner.

Volkening posted 12 saves in net for Falcons. The two squads will conclude their regular season's tomorrow night at 9:05 pm EST.