Robert Morris might have expected to go into the first intermission tied with Air Force after both teams were scoreless through 19 minutes and 30 seconds of the first period. 

But then, the Falcons turned the game on its head with two goals in the final 24 seconds. The late-period flurry propelled Air Force to a dominant 4-1 win over the Colonials, extending the hockey team’s unbeaten run to five games. 

Falcons sophomore defenseman Ren Morque found captain and right wing Holt Oliphant in the slot with a pass. The Falcons’ senior put a backhanded shot past Colonials goaltender Charlie Schenkel for the score at 19:36. 

Moments later, Falcons senior captain and defenseman Chris Hedden played a little give-and-go with sophomore top-line center Nick Sajevic for the score with 0.1 seconds remaining in the period.  

The goal marked Hedden’s team-leading eighth of the season and the 17th assist for Sajevic, who leads Air Force (9-6-2, 6-4-1) in helpers. 

“(Sajevic) finds a way to move the puck to the open guy,” Hedden said. “(He) gave me the puck there, saw we had six seconds left, which is enough time to try and make a play, and he took the chance on making a pass instead of shooting the puck, and it worked out.”

Neither team scored in the middle frame, but Air Force added to its lead in the third period. Junior assistant captain right wing Brendan Gibbons beat Schenkel glove side at 4:44 for his fourth goal of the season.  

The Falcons had just one power play on Friday and the Colonials killed it off, but Air Force used the man advantage to build momentum to its fourth score. Sophomore defenseman Jake Peterson’s shot from the right point found twine at 11:26. The goal was Peterson’s third of the season. Sajevic won the faceoff leading to Peterson’s score, earning a second assist on the evening. The sophomore’s 18 assists also lead the Atlantic Hockey America conference.   

Air Force was perfect on the penalty kill on Friday, fending off three power plays for the Colonials. The Falcons have successfully killed off their last 12 penalties. 

The evening saw another good outing from Falcons junior goalie Dominik Wasik in his 12th career start. Wasik finished with 21 saves but perhaps none were bigger than his stickless denial of Colonials right wing Braden Rourke in the second period.

Despite Wasik’s heroics, RMU stole the shutout from him with a score with just 31 seconds remaining in the game. Colonials center Michael Felsing beat Wasik from the right circle. 

The Falcons outshot Robert Morris 30-22.

Friday was a good win for Air Force, but Falcons coach Frank Serratore said his team could have played better. 

“No game is going to be perfect and again, I’m proud of the boys, it was a winning effort, but I think as we evolve and improve as a team here, we can’t forget what our identity is. What our identity is, is playing a 200-foot game, forechecking, trying to create turnovers and feeding those point men who trigger a lot of the offense for us,” he said. “There’s a formula for this group and they know it, and we weren’t terrible at it tonight, but I think we can be a little better tomorrow.” 

Air Force and Robert Morris will conclude the series on Saturday at 4:05 p.m.