Air Force Falcons Hockey Fails to Snap Losing Streak in Loss to RIT

The Air Force Falcons men’s hockey team continued to claim an elusive victory during Friday’s game with RIT.

A glove dryer for player equipment photographed during a tour of the Munn Ice Arena completed renovations on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, in East Lansing. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Air Force Falcons men’s hockey team had their chances to snap their losing streak, but they were unable to beat RIT, 2-1, on Friday night at Cadet Ice Rink.

The Falcons (11-16-1, 8-10-0 in Atlantic Hockey America) have lost five straight games going into Saturday’s finale with RIT (6-20-1, 5-13-1 in AHA), which was next-to-last in the league going into the contest. The win snapped RIT’s two-game losing streak.

RIT cut into Air Force’s record in the series, as the Falcons now lead, 37-30-4. The Falcons won the last meeting in Rochester, N.Y., but split that series.

In fact, the series has been pretty even the past few years. Air Force and RIT split the last 16 meetings going into this series. Eight of the last 10 meetings have been decided by two goals or less with two going into overtime.

Air Force took the lead in the first period, as Austin Schwartz scored an even strength unassisted goal midway through the period to put the Falcons ahead, 1-0.

From there, RIT goaltender Jakub Krbecek — a two-time AHA rookie of the week — was perfect. He finished with 34 saves on 35 Air Force shots.

At the 15:07 mark of the second period, RIT tied the game on Tanner Andrew’s goal, with an assist from Simon Isabelle. It was the first goal allowed on the game by Falcons goaltender Guy Blessing, who saved 27 shots.

RIT scored the game-winner in the third period, as Matthew Wilde fired one past Blessing, with assists from Dimitri Mikrogiannakis and Christian Catalano.

The closeness of the game fell in line with how Air Force has played this season. In AHA games, the Falcons are second in scoring defense and give up 2.06 goals per game. After Friday, the Falcons have now given up two goals or fewer in 17 of their last 23 games. But, Air Force is only 9-13-1 in those games and are now 6-7 in one-goal games.

It’s been a rough season for RIT, which went 27-11-2 last season. The Tigers won the AHA regular-season title and tournament title and advanced to the NCAA West Regional.

RIT and Air Force both joined the AHA at the same time, the 2006-07 season. The two have combined for eight regular-season titles and 11 tournament titles in 18 years. In games played at Air Force, the Falcons lead, 20-13-3.

After this weekend, Air Force has three more AHA series before the tournament in March — at Canisius on Feb. 7-8, at home against Army West Point on Feb. 14-15 and at Robert Morris on Feb. 21-22.