Falcons skate to 6-1 win over AIC

  • Published
  • By Dave Toller
  • U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. (AFPN) --  Senior Andrew Ramsey scored a career-best four goals to lead the Air Force to a 6-1 win over American International College Nov. 17 at the Cadet Ice Arena.

The Air Force evened its record at 6-6-1 overall and 4-2-1 in the Atlantic Hockey Association. AIC fell to 0-10-0 and 0-8-0 in the AHA.

Ramsey gave the Falcons an early lead with a 5-on-3 power play goal at the 5:38 mark of the opening period. Mike Phillipich and Eric Ehn took shots that were saved, but Ramsey collected the puck at the goal line on the far side and slid it in the open net. The Yellow Jackets answered at 14:03 as Neil Sullivan scored off a Greg Genovese centering pass.

The second period was all Air Force as the Falcons scored four goals. Ehn netted the eventual game-winner at 2:17 from Michael Mayra and Matt Fairchild. Fairchild fed Ehn just inside the blue line and Ehn skated in uncontested for his nation-leading 14th goal of the season. Ramsey scored the next two goals at 10:57 and 11:39. His first came when Ehn won a faceoff back to Ramsey who fired a slap shot that rattled through traffic and got past Tom Fenton. His second came when he forced a turnover deep in the AIC end and skated right to the net for his third of the game. Just two minutes later, the Falcons struck again as Mike Phillipich scored a short-handed goal at 13:22 for a 5-1 lead. Theo Zacour poked the puck away in the neutral zone and Phillipich skated in all alone down the left wing. His wrister from the dot sizzled past Fenton high to the glove side.

The Air Force scored the only goal of the third period as Ramsey scored his fourth of the game. The Falcons won a draw in the defensive zone and Billy Devoney touched the puck to Ehn. Ehn fed Ramsey at his own blue line and the senior captain skated on a 2-on-1 breakaway down the left side. Ramsey blistered a wrister in for a 6-1 lead at the 9:55 mark.

"The big second period was the difference, otherwise this was a 2-1 game," head coach Frank Serratore said. "They are a difficult team to play against, because you have to be willing to get dirty. We wore them down from the tops of the circles in and did a good job of moving our feet and drawing penalties. Peter was solid in the net for us, and we needed that. We aren't getting to excited, because we have to figure out a way to get over the hump and win two in a row. We haven't done that yet this season."

The Falcons out-shot AIC in every period and 44-16 for the game. Fenton made 38 saves for the Yellow Jackets. Peter Foster didn't see a lot of action, but stopped 15 of the 16 shots he faced, including seven in the third period. The Falcons were 1-for-7 on the power play while AIC was 0-for-4.

Ramsey became the first player since Justin Kieffer to score four in a game. Kieffer scored four against the University of Connecticut Jan. 3, 1998. With his four goals, Ramsey now has nine goals and 18 points in 13 games this season. Ramsey had a career-best 10 shots in the game, the most by any Falcon this season. Ehn continued his hot streak with four points on one goal and three assists. Ehn now has 14 goals and 27 points in 13 games. Phillipich had one goal and one assist and now has 17 points on the year.

The same two teams conclude the series Nov. 19 at the Cadet Ice Arena.