Ice Hockey bounces back to split at Air Force

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado - The American International College ice hockey team, led by three-point nights from Alfred Lindberg and John Lundy, defeated the Air Force Academy 4-1 in Atlantic Hockey Association play on Saturday, January 13.

AIC is now 13-10-1 overall and 9-6-1-1-1-0 in the AHA.

The Falcons struck first, scoring the opening period's only goal with a shot by Holt Oliphant at 13:26.

In the second, AIC took advantage of a power play to tie the game. After Lundy set up a bid by Dustin Manz that was denied, Lindberg skated the rebound down the slot and fired it into the top left corner of the cage for his eighth of the year at 1:17. 

From there, the goalkeepers took over, particularly AIC's rookie Nils Wallstrom, who posted 14 stops in the frame to keep things 1-1 through 40.

Lindberg put his squad on top early in the third. Lundy fed Tomi Leppanen for a shot on the left side of the ice and once again it was Lindberg who picked it up in the left corner. He carried the puck all the way to the left point, then cut across the point before driving down the right side of the slot and wristing the puck into the top left corner of the net once more at 3:07 for his ninth of the season. 

Exactly five minutes of clock time later, Lundy and Lindberg switched spots on the scoresheet. On the power play again, Manz won a puck battle in the left corner, chipping it up the boards to Lindberg, who redirected it to the left faceoff circle for Julius Janhonen. The senior center saw Lundy charging in from the right point and put the puck right on his stick, and Lundy rocketed home his 12th of the season - and eighth on the man advantage - at 8:07.

Air Force pulled its goalkeeper late, trying to tie the game, but AIC finished the job as Manz took advantage of a bouncing puck deflected into the neutral zone by Evan Stella to score his third of the season at 18:40.

Wallstrom ultimately totaled 29 saves in the win to improve to 12-8-1 on the year; the 12 wins ties AIC's Division I-era rookie record, set by Stefano Durante in 2017-18; that total is second-most in a season by any AIC keeper since the start of the 1998-99 season, AIC's first in DI.

The team will be on a bye before returning to the MassMutual Center to face Robert Morris University in a two-game series beginning Friday, January 26 at 1:05 p.m.