Box Score
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Another stellar performance by redshirt junior goaltender
Jordan Tibbett went for naught on Saturday night as Chad Demers scored with 1:34 left in regulation and Cole Gunner sealed it with an empty-netter as the Falcons of Air Force completed a weekend sweep of Mercyhurst at the Cadet Ice Arena by a 2-0 final over the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team. The Lakers dropped to 15-12-5 overall and 13-4-4 in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings. Air Force improved to 17-9-4 overall and 12-6-3 in the conference.
It was just the second time this season that Mercyhurst has been swept in a weekend series (Ohio State on December 28 and 29) and the first time it has occurred in conference play. It was also just the second time this season that Mercyhurst has been shutout – the first occurrence came in the season-opener at now top-ranked Minnesota, 6-0.
The Lakers lost two points in the standings with Bentley and Connecticut splitting a two-game series this weekend and now Mercyhurst has a two-point lead over Bentley for the top spot in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings with three weeks remaining in the regular season. Mercyhurst is now just three points ahead of Air Force and Connecticut, who are tied for third place. Fifth-place Robert Morris is just four points back.
Demers capitalized after a flurry in front of the Mercyhurst goal, redirecting a centering pass from Gunner and getting it to trickle past Tibbett for the game's first goal with 1:34 left. Similar to the Canisius game a couple of weeks ago when the Griffs scored the game's first goal late in regulation, this time the Lakers had no late magic.
Gunner ended it with an empty-net goal from just outside the Laker blueline with 20 seconds left to send the sellout crowd at the Cadet Ice Arena home happy. Scott Holm and Dan Weissenhofer had the assists on the empty-netter.
Tibbett did everything he could for the Lakers, but he suffers the hard-luck loss to drop to 1-8-1 on the season. After turning aside a career-high 48 shots last night, Tibbett stopped 38-of-39 shots on Saturday night. But, it wasn't enough as Air Force freshman Chris Truehl picked up his third shutout of the season with a 24-save performance. He improved to 8-2 on the season.
The first two periods were played to a scoreless tie, but each team had ample opportunities over the course of the first forty minutes.
Air Force freshman A.J. Reid rang a shot off of the goalpost behind Tibbett midway through the second period to keep the game scoreless. Then, late in the second with Mercyhurst shorthanded, redshirt junior
Kyle Just did the same behind Truehl on a 2-on-1 shorthanded opportunity.
Each team also killed off three power plays during the opening forty minutes of play. Shots after two periods favored Air Force by a 27-18 margin, including an 18-7 advantage in the second period.
Just before Demers' heroics, junior
Daniel Bahntge seemingly had given the Lakers a 1-0 lead with just over two minutes left in the game. Bahntge sprinted down the right wing, circled behind the goal, and attempted a wraparound on Truehl. Everyone in attendance, including the referees lost sight of the puck with Truehl ending up on his back on the ice. However, after watching the video replay board, the puck stayed out, somehow. It trickled just outside of the goal line all the way across the crease. When Truehl fell backwards, the puck went backwards as well, but just nudged the far post and stayed out.
Air Force outshot Mercyhurst 40-24 for the contest and finished the weekend with 93 shots on goal on Tibbett – 86 of which were stopped by the Laker netminder. Each team went 0-for-3 on the power play on Saturday.
Mercyhurst will be back on the road next Friday and Saturday, February 14 and 15, at a place that has never treated the Lakers well – the Ritter Arena, home of the Tigers of RIT. Both faceoffs are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. After next weekend, the Lakers will have home-and-home series with both Niagara and Robert Morris to close out the regular season.
