National Noise

Click here to read Allen Lessels' story on the New England Hockey Jouranl website.

Did you hear that? Did you feel that? Did you?

Atlantic Hockey, in particular Air Force and Mercyhurst, made some major noise over the weekend and shook the foundation of college hockey in the process.

The Falcons proved that, yes, they are for real on Friday night with their first win over cross-town rival Colorado College, at the time the No. 3 team in the land, since 1985. Junior goalie Andrew Volkening made 28 saves in the triumph that ran Air Force to 13-0-0 for the season.

The Falcons, the last undefeated and untied team in the country, came back to Earth a bit the next night in a 4-1 defeat at Denver University. But consider it a statement made.

“Air Force should be in the top five in the polls and I hope the polls show that on Monday,” send Denver coach George Gwozdecky after Saturday night’s game. “They’re one of the best teams in the nation and they have proven that every weekend.”

The Falcons moved up a spot in Monday’s USA Today/USA Magazine poll from No. 11 to No. 10.

Mercyhurst took its turn trumping a highly ranked outfit when it knocked off No. 7 Princeton, 6-4, on Saturday in the championship game of the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament.

It capped off a nice weekend for the Lakers, who came into the tournament at 3-8-1, and beat host RPI 4-1 in the first round on Friday night.

Canisius, too, had a nice cross-conference weekend. The Golden Griffins rallied late for a 4-3 overtime win over Clarkson on Friday night and then picked up a 2-2 tie on Saturday night.

NEHJ Player of the Week
Ryan Zapolski, So., Mercyhurst
The Lakers were 1-8 when Zapolski got his first start of the season. He backstopped them to a 1-1 tie with Bentley his first time out and he and the Lakers have won four straight since. He had 39 saves to beat RPI the first night and 46 in the title game of the tournament against No. 7 Princeton the next in a wild finish. Zapolski, out of Erie, Pa., has a goals-against average of 1.99 and save percentage of .944.

Looking Ahead
Holy Cross at Bentley, Friday, Dec. 5, Bentley at Holy Cross, Saturday, Dec. 6
While RIT heads to Colorado Springs to try and slow down the runaway Falcons of Air Force, Holy Cross and Bentley will stay in Massachusetts and jockey for position in the standings. Bentley, Holy Cross, RIT and Canisius came out of the weekend tied for second place in the league with nine points each. Air Force is way out front with 20. Holy Cross and Bentley split a pair of games last season.

Around Atlantic Hockey

AIC
The Yellow Jackets have some nice scoring balance with nine players within three points of each other. Problem is, freshman Michael Penny’s 5-3-8 totals are the top end. Getting more out of the power play would help the two-goals-a-game average: AIC has converted just 4-of-57 chances or seven percent.

Air Force
Volkening, the 6-2 and 175-pound junior out of Genoa, Ill., lost his first game of the season on Saturday night at Denver and now has a not-shabby-at-all 13-1-0 record, 1.35 GAA and .942 save percentage. . . .

The Falcons have trailed in only two of their 14 games.

Army
The Black Knights lost a tough one at Union when they gave up a goal with 0.2 seconds left and fell, 5-4. They will try to regroup from the loss and a four-game skid with a pair of games at Canisius on Saturday and Sunday. After that, they’re off until the Dartmouth tournament, Dec. 28 and 29.

Bentley
Eighth last year in the standings and ninth in the preseason poll, the Falcons aim to stay among the frontrunners when they close out the pre-New Year’s portion of their league schedule with a home and home series with Holy Cross. AIC ended Bentley’s five-game unbeaten run last Tuesday.

Canisius
Among the heroes of the Golden Griffins’ 4-3 overtime win over Clarkson, its first-ever against an ECAC opponent, were sophomore Brandon Cummings, junior Jason Weeks and senior Spencer Churchill. Cummings scored the first two goals, Weeks tied the game with 14 seconds left in regulation and Churchill got the game-winner 3:46 into OT.

UConn
Junior Michael Coppola, sophomore Jason Krispel and freshman Marcello Ranallo each had a goal and two assists in the Huskies’ 4-1 decision at Brown, their first win away from home. UConn will try to keep the road success rolling on Tuesday night at Sacred Heart and Friday at Massachusetts.

Holy Cross
After starting the season 2-7-1, the Crusaders have split their last four games. They seek to keep pace with the league leaders in a home-and-home series with Bentley this weekend and then take on another Hockey East team on Tuesday when they travel to New Hampshire. Holy Cross lost to Boston University, 3-2, last Tuesday.

Mercyhurst
The Lakers won an exciting, and odd, one on Saturday night against Princeton. They scored four goals in the first period. Princeton scored four straight in the third period, the last two with their goalie pulled for an extra attacker. And then, 40 seconds after the Tigers tied it, Scott Pitt scored the game-winner unassisted. Matt Pierce added an empty net goal.

RIT
Junior forward Matt Crowell had two goals and an assist in his first 11 games of the season. He also had two goals and an assist, figuring in all the RIT goals, in a 6-3 loss to UMass-Lowell on Saturday.

Sacred Heart
Things went a little better on special teams for the Pioneers in their split with Holy Cross. They were 3-for-6 on the power play and Holy Cross was only 1-for-12 with a man advantage.