Air Force Academy

Nov. 20, 2009

Box Score in PDF Format

STORRS, Conn . - Husky Mike Coppola scored with 6:28 left in the third period as Air Force and UConn skated to a 2-2 overtime tie in an Atlantic Hockey Association game, Friday night, Nov. 20, at the Mark Freitas Ice Forum in Storrs, Conn.

Air Force fell into second place in the league and is now 5-5-3 overall and 5-1-3 in the AHA. UConn is now 2-7-2 overall and 2-4-2 in the AHA. RIT moved into sole possession with its seventh straight win earlier tonight.

Air Force controlled play in the first period, but it was UConn that scored first on the power play. Sean Ambrosie sent a puck around the boards that bounced out in front of the net and Andrew Olson put in the rebound at the 12:49 mark. The goal snapped Air Force's streak of killing 24 consecutive opponent power plays. Air Force quickly answered on a four-on-four situation. Tim Kirby took a shot down the slot that hit hard off the back boards and bounced to the side of the net. Derrick Burnett collected the puck and back-handed it past Jeff Larson to tie the game at 1-1 at the 15:53 mark. Jeff Hajner also assisted on the play.

Late in the second period, Air Force took a 2-1 lead on the power play. Burnett skated the puck into the corner and used a spin move to beat a UConn defenseman down low. He skated behind the net and found Jacques Lamoureux in the slot who gave Air Force a 2-1 lead with 2:56 remaining. The goal was his sixth of the season and his fourth power-play goal of the year. Scott Mathis also assisted on the play. UConn tied the game with 6:28 left in the third when Jeff Sapeiha centered the puck from behind the net and Copppola scored his second of the season. Neither team scored again in regulation or overtime.

"We worked hard tonight," head coach Frank Serratore said. "We are having a tough time scoring goals. We are going to be in this position a lot if we continue to play well defensively, but not score goals. We are trying to get goals in a variety of ways, but we need to find a way to score. Our foundation is to have a great work ethic and we did that tonight. Their goaltender played good, but we didn't take advantage of the shots we had. UConn plays us very defensively. They didn't give us any rushes and we just couldn't get much penetration. We gave up a point tonight on the road. That point was not lost in the third period. It was lost early in the game when we had chances and didn't score. When you only score two goals there is not much of a margin for error. Whether or not we consider this trip a success will be predicated tomorrow."

Air Force outshot UConn in every period and 51-24 in the game. The 51 shots for Air Force are a season high. AFA was 1-for-6 on the power play while UConn was 1-for-5. Volkening made 22 saves for Air Force while Larson made a career high 49 for the Huskies.

The same two teams conclude the series on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 7:05 p.m. EST in Storrs, Conn. --30--