Hockey: Air Force, Canisus skate to 3-3 overtime tie

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U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) --  For the second straight night, the U.S. Air Force Academy and Canisius College skated to a 3-3 overtime tie in an Atlantic Hockey Association game Dec. 8 at the Cadet Ice Arena here.

After back-to-back ties, Air Force enters the holiday break with a record of 9-4-3 overall and a 7-4-3 mark in the AHA and remain in first place in the division.

The Falcons scored the first two goals of the game as Brent Olson and Eric Ehn combined on both goals. The first came at the 8:29 mark when Greg Flynn made a pass down low to Ehn on the right side. Ehn passed to Olson in the slot who went high to beat the Canisus goalie for a 1-0 lead. The same two Falcons combined for the Air Force's second goal at the 14:08 mark. Olson intercepted a pass in the Air Force zone and gave the puck to Ehn. Ehn then skated through the neutral zone and gave it back to Olson on the right wing who scored his second of the night and his seventh of the season.

Canisius came back to tie the game with two goals in the last 2:30 of the period. 

The Air Force regained the lead when Jeff Hajner scored at 3:58 of the second period. Canisius started the period on the power play and outshot the Air Force 5-0 in the first three minutes. Then, Frank Schiavone's long outlet to Matt Fairchild in the neutral zone started a rush. Fairchild banked the puck off the boards to Hajner who was all alone down the left wing. His wrister gave the Falcons a 3-2 lead on the Falcons' first shot of the period.

Canisius tied the game with 1:49 left in the period. Neither team scored in the final 25 minutes, despite the Falcons having a 23-7 shot advantage. The best scoring chance of the overtime period came with 50 seconds remaining and the Falcons had a 4-on-2 rush that was broken up by the Canisus goalie.

Air Force outshot Canisius 43-24 in the game. The Falcons were 1-for-6 on the power play, while Canisius was 2-for-8. Andrew Volkening had 21 saves for the Air Force.

"We played much better tonight than we did last night," head coach Frank Serratore said. "We had good energy and gave a great effort. They didn't generate much offense, put they did get two power play goals and we gave them some chances on turnovers."

Air Force is now off until Dec. 29 when the Falcons travel to Minneapolis for the annual Dodge Holiday Classic at Mariucci. Air Force will play Boston College Dec. 29.

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