Air Force Academy

Oct. 25, 2011

Weekly Release

This Week Air Force (3-2-1, 2-0-0 AHA) hosts the Canisius Golden Griffins (1-2-0, 1-0-0 AHA), Saturday, Oct. 29, at 7:05 p.m. The teams play just one game at the Academy and will meet in a two-game series in Buffalo, N.Y., Jan. 29-30.

Radio/Internet/Television All games will be broadcast in Colorado Springs on The Sports Animal AM 1300 and on the internet at www.GoAirForceFalcons.com. Pregame show begins 30 minutes before faceoff each day. All games will be video streamed with audio by America One Television. Subscriptions can be purchased at www.americaone.com/college.

On the Edge of Your Seat Last season, 24 of Air Force's 38 games were decided by one goal or ended in a tie and AFA was 12-6-6 in those games. This season, Air Force has played six games and five of them were essentially one-goal games (one was a two-goal final deficit including an empty-netter) or ended in a tie. AFA had a 3-2 lead in the third period against No. 3 North Dakota, but fell 4-3. AFA had a 2-1 lead in the third, but fell to Michigan State, 3-2 in overtime. The Falcons beat Niagara, 3-2, in overtime on Oct. 14 on Kyle De Laurell's goal. On Oct. 16, John Kruse's empty-netter sealed a 4-2 win over Robert Morris. Cole Gunner scored with 3:31 left in third period as AFA and Alabama-Huntsville skated to a 1-1 overtime tie on Oct. 21.

Unbeaten Streak Air Force's four-game unbeaten streak is tied as the fourth best in the current streak in the nation. AFA is 3-0-1 in the last four games, the team's longest streak since winning eight straight late last season.

Scouting the Griffs Canisius opened the season with a pair of road losses at Quinnipiac, 7-1 and 4-0. However, the Griffs earned their first win of the season in a league contest with a 3-1 win over RIT, Oct. 20. The Griffs broke a 1-1 tie with a goal late in the third period and added an empty-netter for the first home win of the season. Sophomore Kyle Gibbons leads the team with two goals and three points. Sophomore Ryan Bohrer leads the team with two assists. Canisius has scored just four goals in three games while allowing 12. Senior goalie Dan Morrison has seen the most action between the pipes with a .887 saves percentage and a 4.01 saves percentage. Morrison earned the win over RIT last week. Morrison was the AHA Goalie of the Week as he stopped 33-of-34 shots he faced and kept the Tigers off the scoreboard for the final 55 minutes of the game.

The Series vs. Canisius AFA and Canisius will play for the 15th time and the Falcons hold a slim 6-5-4 lead. The series began when Air Force joined Atlantic Hockey in the 2006-07 season. AFA is 2-3-3 in games played at the Academy and 4-2-1 in games played in Buffalo. The teams played three times last season and AFA was 1-0-2 vs. the Griffs. The teams played twice at the Academy and AFA took three points with a 4-4 tie and a 3-2 win. Of the 14 games, seven have been decided by one goal or ended in a tie. Four of the games have been decided by three or more goals.

Scoring by Committee Eleven different Falcons have scored Air Force's 20 goals this season. Kyle De Laurell has five while Casey Kleisinger and Stephen Carew each have three. Eighteen different Falcons have scored a point led by De Laurell and Gunner with nine each. In AFA's 7-2 win over UAH, Oct. 22, six different Falcons scored goals in the game.