Out of Left Field: Carson’s musings about Air Force, Colorado College hockey

Air Force

Things seemed to be looking up after the first game of Air Force’s four-game road trip. The Falcons tied AIC — the AHA’s top team in the last few years — to break their Friday struggles.

But after that, Air Force struggled. The Falcons lost game two of the AIC series before getting swept by Mercyhurst.

Three of Air Force’s four winless games on the road had something in common: the Falcons’ opponent scored first.

It’s hard to win when you get behind early, and Air Force’s record in those games shows that. The Falcons are 2-6-1 when their opponent scores first. In all other contests, they are 4-2-1.

“We have to come out swinging and we have to find a way to get that first goal more times than not,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said.

Simply put, the Falcons have to be better early in games than they have been lately. That cost them in conference games against Bentley and RIT as well as in a couple non-conference games.

Even though this week’s opponent, Holy Cross, is toward the bottom of the AHA standings, college hockey doesn’t have any truely bad teams. A couple of bad starts and Air Force could see the results go the wrong direction.

But on the flipside, the Falcons have a more experienced squad than Holy Cross. Two good starts in a row could very well lead to a sweep.

Colorado College

Colorado College will see its first repeat opponent of the year this weekend. The Tigers head north for a series against Minnesota Duluth.

They split the series at Ed Robson Arena, with CC winning the opener and UMD taking the second game.

The Bulldogs enter the second series 7-7-0 overall and are receiving a few votes in the latest USCHO poll. Even in what’s a “down year” for a perennial powerhouse, the Bulldogs are still a very strong team.

Mayotte takes great pride in how the first series went, saying “we liked a lot of things we did.” CC won 5-0 in the opener and were tied in game two until late in the third period.

In addition to a rather successful first series against UMD, Mayotte likes how recent that series was. That series was on Nov. 4 and 5 — less than a month ago.

The Bulldogs’ strengths and weaknesses are fresh in the Tigers’ minds. Between two weeks off, recent success against UMD and an improved squad, CC has a real chance to steal some points from a good team on the road.