Falcons take series opener from Ice Hockey

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado - The American International College ice hockey team dropped a 6-2 decision at the Air Force Academy in Atlantic Hockey Association play on Friday, January 12.

AIC is now 12-10-1 with an 8-6-1-1-1-0 AHA record.

The game started well enough, as Tomi Leppanen fed the puck forward into the neutral zone for Alfred Lindberg, who banked a pass off the boards to allow Alexander Malinowski behind the defense. Malinowski whipped a shot at the net and found the target, scoring his ninth of the season at the 3:07 mark for a 1-0 AIC lead.

However, the Falcons took over from there. Nate Horn tied the game at 9:57, and on the power play late in the frame, Luke Rowe fired a shot that found the twine at 18:07, sending the home team to the locker room with a 2-1 lead.

In the second, Air Force added two more, with Andrew DeCarlo and Austin Schwartz scoring unassisted, the latter shorthanded, to build a 4-1 lead at the 10:30 mark.

AIC did get one back in the period. Brett Rylance dished to the point for Brett Callahan, who executed a give and go perfectly with his co-captain Brian Kramer to get the defense and goalkeeper moving side-to-side. Callahan's blast on the return from Kramer beat everyone en route to the net for the grad student's third of the year at 13:50.

In the third, the Falcons added another power play tally from Chris Hedden to go ahead 5-2. AIC pulled its goalkeeper for a sixth attacker, but Hedden added another into the empty net for the 6-2 final.

Nils Wallstrom made 22 saves in the setback.

The teams finish off the series on Saturday, January 13. Puck drop is slated for 6:05 p.m. Eastern time.