Dominik Wasik recorded 21 saves as the Air Force Falcons secured a 4-1 victory over Robert Morris in an Atlantic Hockey America matchup at the Cadet Ice Arena on Friday. Four different players scored for Air Force, which has now achieved an 8-2-1 record over its last 11 games.
The Falcons (9-6-2 overall, 6-4-1 in conference) took control late in the first period with two goals in the final seconds. Team captain Holt Oliphant opened scoring with a backhand shot from the slot at 19:36, assisted by Ren Morque and Mason McCormick. Chris Hedden, another senior captain, added a goal just before time expired in the period after being set up by Nick Sajevic and Nolan Cunningham.
Following a scoreless second period, Brendan Gibbons extended Air Force’s lead early in the third after Owen Dubois won possession along the boards. Jake Peterson then made it 4-0 midway through the period off a faceoff win from Sajevic. Sajevic finished with two assists and continues to lead Atlantic Hockey America with 18 assists and 20 points through 17 games.
Robert Morris avoided a shutout when Michael Felsing scored with less than a minute remaining. The Falcons outshot their opponents from Pittsburgh by eight shots and successfully killed all three of Robert Morris’ power plays, bringing their streak of consecutive penalty kills to twelve over four games. Charlie Schenkel stopped 26 shots for Robert Morris.
Head coach Frank Serratore commented on his team’s performance: “We were the better team and we deserved to win,” Serratore said. “But we got away from our game at times. We can be better tomorrow and play more of a complete game. I don’t want to be too critical because we found a way to win. We played with the lead the whole game and played really good hockey more times than not.”
The teams will finish their two-game series on Saturday at Cadet Ice Arena.
