Air Force secured a 5-4 victory over Mercyhurst in an Atlantic Hockey America matchup on Saturday at the Cadet Ice Arena. With this result, Air Force took four out of six points available in the weekend series.
Mercyhurst opened the scoring late in the first period when Riley Fitzgerald found the net with help from Caleb Price and Dominik Bartecko. Air Force responded less than 20 seconds later as Chris Hedden intercepted a pass and Mason McCormick scored off a rebound to tie it up.
Midway through the second period, Charles Panchisin gave Air Force its first lead after a rush assisted by Nolan Cunningham and Will Dawson. Mercyhurst tied it before intermission with Alexander Dimitriadis scoring on a power play.
Early in the third, Sean James put Mercyhurst ahead again with another power-play goal. Air Force quickly leveled through Holt Oliphant, who scored his seventh goal of the season after Ren Morque’s attempt was stopped but rebounded.
The Falcons then gained momentum midway through the final period. Sam Stitz capitalized on a power play following a penalty drawn by Nick Sajevic, putting Air Force up 4-3. Less than two minutes later, Hayden Nichol extended the lead to 5-3 with assists from Cole Christian and Panchisin.
Mercyhurst narrowed the gap when Bartecko scored during an extra-attacker situation with under two minutes left, but could not find an equalizer despite pulling their goalie twice late in regulation.
Air Force finished with 36 shots compared to Mercyhurst’s 24. The Lakers converted two of three power plays while Air Force succeeded once out of two opportunities. Sal Evola recorded 31 saves for Mercyhurst; Dominik Wasik made 20 stops for Air Force.
“We knew this game was going to be decided in the third period and it was,” head coach Frank Serratore said. “We did play a lot better than last night. We had more bodies around the net tonight. Their goalie was very good this whole weekend. I liked our game at even strength. We only gave up one even-strength goal tonight. This was a valuable win going into the West Point series next weekend. The three points tonight, and the four on the weekend, were massive.”
Air Force will next host Army for a two-game league series at Cadet Ice Arena on February 20 and 21, with senior night scheduled for Saturday’s game.
