Visors and Risers

Credit Larry Clouse Photography  After winning the Atlantic Conference Championship with a tight 2-1 victory over the Robert Morris University Colonials and earning their bid to the NCAA tournament, not many people were expecting them to do anything but roll over and be quickly knocked out. These low expectations for teams coming out of the Atlantic Conference are not all together unwarranted as it is full of small school teams with fewer scholarships to offer and thus less appeal for players, but this year the Atlantic began to turn some heads. Credit Colorado Springs Gazette  This resurgence of the Conference was highlighted by Air Force's breakout season, which started off with a bang when they defeated Boston College, who was ranked 5th in the nation at the time, 2-1 in just their first game of the season. Throughout the season Air Force was ranked in the top 20 nationwide on two separate occasions and would eventually lead to NCAA tournament berth. This tour...

Credit Boston.com  Round #1:  #3 Harvard (3) Vs. Providence (0) The third ranked Harvard Crimson beat up on the Providence Friars 3-0 in their first game of the tournament. Forward Tyler Moy led the Crimson with 2 goals and goaltender Merrick Madsen made 41 saves for the shutout victory. Friars goalie Hayden Hawkey stopped 26 of 28 shots in the losing effort. Air Force (5) Vs. Western Michigan (4)  In one of the biggest upsets of the first round, The Falcons of Air Force upended the Western Michigan Broncos by a score of 5-4. The Falcons were led offensively by forwards Kyle Haak (2 goals) and Jordan Himley (1 goal, 2 assists). Broncos goaltender Ben Blacker stopped 25 of the 30 shots he faced in the loss. #2 Minnesota Duluth (3) Vs. Ohio State (2) OT  The second ranked Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs barely escaped the first round with the win, beating the Ohio State Buckeyes in overtime. The scoring started off in the second period when the Bulldo...

The Air Force Falcons captured the Atlantic Hockey Championship on Saturday night with a 2-1 victory in front of a nearly empty Blue Cross Arena in Rochester New York. This is most likely due to the fact that RIT did not make it to the finals for the first time in two years, RIT had won the past two Atlantic Hockey Championships. Senior Forward Ben Robillard  was the only player able to crack Air Force's stingy defense while Junior Forwards  Erik Baskin  and Jordan Himley . Sophomore Goaltender Shane Starrett  had 24 saves on 25 shots for Air Force while Freshman Francis Marotte had 12 saves on 13 shots in the loss for RMU. With the victory, Air Force receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament which will be starting next week. The Air Force Falcons will enter the NCAA tournament with a record of 26-9-5 and will play the Western Michigan Broncos in the first round. Western Michigan will enter this game with a record of 22-15-5 and played Air Force at home ...

Atlantic Hockey Showdown: Playoff Round #2  "RIT wins 2015 Title" (Credit Bryan Bennet)   Round #1 Results:   #10 AIC (0) Vs. #7 Mercyhurst (2) The Lakers swept the weekend behind an impressive all around team effort helping themselves get out of that three game losing streak to end the season. In Friday night's game the Lakers jumped out to a 3-0 lead before giving up three straight, Sophomore Forward Derek Barach would then score his second of the night late in the second period that eventually ended up as the game winning goal as the Lakers won 4-3. Saturday's game was a different story however, as the Lakers used a 4 goal second and 24 saves from Junior Goaltender Brandon Wildung to roll over AIC 5-0 and earn a sweep to move on to the next round. #11 Niagara (2) Vs. #6 RIT (1)  In easily the biggest upset of the playoffs thus far, the Niagara Purple Eagles managed to take down RIT, winning two out of the three games on the weekend. Niagara would...