USAFA, Colo. Freshman Luke Rodgers (Clarkston, Mich.) scored his first collegiate goal, but it was not enough as American International College dropped a, 5-1, contest to the United States Air Force Academy in Atlantic Hockey conference men's ice hockey action this evening from the Cadet Ice Arena.
With the loss AIC falls to 5-16-1 on the year and 5-11-1 in league action while AFA runs their record to 9-9-2 overall and 7-5-2 in Atlantic Hockey play after the weekend sweep.
The Jackets again looked to have opened the scoring early in this one as sophomore Bryant Christian (Moorhead, Minn.) redirected a shot from the point by senior Chris Porter (Stoufville, Ont.) that beat freshman goaltender Shane Starrett (Bellingham, Mass.) five-hole at 4:58 of the first.
However, the goal was reviewed and disallowed as Christian played the puck with a high-stick and the game remained scoreless.
Then just a few minutes later it was sophomore Jackson Dudley (Edmonton, Alb.) setting up junior Austin Orszulak (Springfield, Mass.) in the right slot and his wrister clanked the iron and nearly trickled across the goal line, but Starrett knocked it out of harm's way with a diving stick at 7:10 of the opening frame.
Air Force then used an offensive zone turnover, after killing off a penalty without allowing an AIC shot, by going end-to-end with sophomore Ben Kucera (Leawood, Kan.) setting up classmate Erik Baskin (Minnetonka, Minn.) for his third goal of the weekend at 15:31 for the 1-0 edge.
The Falcons then extended their lead at 12:00 of the second period after freshman Evan Giesler (Naperville, Ill.) sent a shot off the pads of sophomore Alex Murray (Burlington, Ont.) from the left circle and the rebound found sophomore Jordan Himley (Mundelein, Ill.) and he hit the wide open net from the right side of the crease for the 2-0 advantage.
AFA pushed their lead even further a few minutes later as freshman Matt Serratore (Bemidji, Minn.) wrapped the puck around the right post and home for the 3-0 score at 15:29 of the middle stanza.
The hosts then recorded their third goal during the middle session for the second straight evening as Kucera received a great feed on the left side of the crease and easily flicked it high to light the lamps for the 4-0 lead at 18:07.
The third period was more of the same for Air Force as Baskin registered his second of the contest on a rebound back-handed chip out front for the 5-0 lead at 6:13.
The Jackets broke the shutout though as freshman Marc Dubeau (St. Lina, Alb.) found a wide-open Rodgers skating on the left side and the rookie went one-on-one with the goalie beating him with a nifty forehand-backhand for the 5-1 score at 13:50 of the final frame.
Murray stopped 37 pucks while falling to 5-11-1 for the season while Starrett improves to 5-7-2 after making 13 saves in the victory.
AIC was outshot 42-14 while neither team converted on their two power-play opportunities.
AIC will now have 13 days off until their next contest when they travel to Bentley University to begin a home-and-home series on Friday January 22nd with a 7:05 p.m. puck drop.
