Air Force secured a decisive 8-2 victory over Michigan Tech in the opening game of the Desert Hockey Classic at Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona. The Falcons will move on to the championship game, where they will face either Arizona State or Alaska-Anchorage.
The Falcons (10-7-2) started strong by scoring three goals within the first three minutes. Nick Sajevic opened the scoring just 45 seconds into the game, followed by a power-play goal from Sam Stitz and another goal from Mason McCormick. By 8:30 of the first period, Air Force had scored their second power-play goal with Chris Hedden finding the net. After this fourth goal, Michigan Tech replaced their starting goaltender Owen Bartoszkiewicz with Ryan Manzella. Stitz added his second goal of the night later in the period, giving Air Force a 5-0 lead after one period.
Michigan Tech (11-8-2) managed to score late in the second period through Elias Jansson but remained behind as Air Force continued to extend its lead. Will Staring and Aidan Willis each scored in the third period for Air Force, and freshman Hayden Nichol recorded his first career goal to make it 8-1. Michigan Tech’s Carson Latimer closed out scoring late in regulation.
Head coach Frank Serratore commented on his team’s performance: “I have been telling anyone that would listen that this is a special group,” he said. “These guys love each other and love to play. It is infectious. Our guys came back from break and were ready to go and tonight it all came together. Give our guys a lot of credit. This group is evolving into a great team. There were some situations where they could have made the game interesting early, but Dominik Wasik made some really timely saves for us. This is a fun group to be around we get to play for a championship on Saturday.”
Air Force outshot Michigan Tech 38-31 and was effective on special teams, converting two out of five power plays while successfully killing all three penalties against them. Goaltender Dominik Wasik stopped 29 shots for Air Force; Bartoszkiewicz allowed four goals on eight shots before being replaced by Manzella, who saved 26 of 30 shots faced.
Twelve different Falcons earned points during the game, with seven players scoring goals. Stitz led with four points—two goals and two assists—a personal best for him in one game.
This eight-goal output was Air Force’s highest since an 8-1 win over Army in January 2023, and their defense blocked a season-high 28 shots against Michigan Tech.
