Army Falls To UConn, 5-4

Black Knights ready for rematch Saturday night

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Cole Koidahl and Scott McDougall each scored twice, leading visiting Connecticut to a 5-4 win over Army in front of 1,909 fans at West Point’s Tate Rink Friday night.

The loss drops the Black Knights to 10-15-6 overall and 8-10-5 in Atlantic Hockey play and into a tie with Bentley for fourth place in the league standings by virtue of the Falcons’ 1-0 win over Canisius. Connecticut, sitting in seventh place, improves to 9-19-1, 8-15-0 in Atlantic Hockey.

Army’s Aaron Anderson scored two power play goals in the first period to lift the hosts to a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play. Anderson banged in two rebounds standing off the right post to establish a career high for the sophomore center. It was his first game all year working with the Black Knights’ power play unit.

However, McDougall scored twice for the Huskies, netting the first goal of the game 3 minutes, 32 seconds into the contest and later tying the tilt at two apiece on the power play at 10:21 of the second. McDougall’s second tally of the game was the first of three goals for UConn in the second frame.

Army and Connecticut traded two more goals during the last half of the middle stanza to send the encounter into the third period knotted at 4-4.

Charles Solberg gave the Huskies a 3-2 advantage 1:36 after McDougall had tied the game, but Army’s Luke Flicek deflected a shot from behind the goal into an open net 2:22 after that to even things up once again.

Connecticut goalie Brad Smith was caught up in traffic behind the net when he went to play the puck, and Flicek flicked the rubber disc out in front where it hit a Husky defenseman covering the crease and deflected into the net.

Freshman Bill Leahy then picked up his first career goal when he slammed home a loose puck lying on the goal line 48 seconds after Flicek had tied the game. Army’s Brady Dolim took a shot from the top of the faceoff circle that Smith initially saved.  When the puck trickled out of his pads and came to a rest on the goal line, Leahy dove over Smith’s shoulder and shoveled the puck into the open net to give the Black Knights a 4-3 lead.

UConn’s Cole Koidahl tied the game at the 17:28 with the first of his two markers on the night. He would pick up the game-winner 3:33 into the third period on a slap shot from outside the Army blue line that hit Black Knight goaltender Brad Roberts’ glove. However, the senior could not catch the blast and the puck slid into the net.

Roberts made 21 saves in the loss, while his counterpart Smith stopped 31 Army shots.

The Black Knights were 3-for-8 on the power play, marking their most power play goals in a game this season. UConn was 2-for-4 with the man advantage.

Flicek finished with a goal and two assists to complement Anderson’s two-goal night. Casey Bickley recorded two assists as well.

Saturday, Army and Connecticut meet for the final time in the 2005-06 season. Faceoff at Tate Rink is scheduled for 7 p.m.