Colorado College defeated Air Force, 6-2 - Air Force Academy Athletics

Colorado College built an early 3-0 lead en route to a 6-2 win over Air Force, Friday, Oct. 27, at a sold out Cadet Ice Arena.

Colorado College opened the scoring at 5:21 as Tiger forward Gleb Veremyev went around a Falcon defenseman below the goal line and scored his second of the year. The Tigers took a 2-0 lead on the power play. Veremyev's shot went off the far post and Evan Werner put back the rebound at 9:37. Five minutes later, a Falcon defenseman made a pass from behind his own net, but it went off the skate of the referee and right to Tiger forward Riley Stuart on the goal line. Stuart set up Ray Christy in the slot for a one-time at 14:48. The Falcons got on the board late in the period after Ausitn Schwartz drew a penalty, putting the Falcons on the power play. Clayton Cosentino and Luke Rowe set up Will Gavin in the right circle. Gavin's wrister at 16:20, his second power-play goal in as many games, cut the deficit to 3-1.

Colorado College (5-0-0 overall) scored less than two minutes into the second period as Veremyev put back a rebound of Brett Link's shot for a 4-1 lead.

The Tigers took a 5-1 lead early in the third period on the rush as Drew Montgomery set up Spencer Cooley with speed down the slot. After the goal, Maiszon Balboa replaced Guy Blessing between the pipes for the Falcons. Down 5-1, Luke Rowe drew a penalty and the Falcons scored their second power play goal of the game. Clayton Cosentino won a faceoff in the offensive zone and Chris Hedden scored with a wrister from the right circle at 7:57. Late in the period, in a four-on-four situation, the Falcons pulled the goalie for an extra attacker and Logan Will scored in the empty net with 4:35 left.
Colorado College outshot Air Force, 30-29. CC sophomore Kaidan Mbereko made 27 saves. Blessing played 44 minutes and made 18 saves. Balboa played the final 15 minutes and made six saves.

"I thought we got off to a terrific start and we had a pile of shots early in that game," head coach Frank Serratore said. "Then we made some mistakes, we didn't get a puck out of the zone and that ended up in the back of the net. Then we took an avoidable penalty and they converted. After they got the third goal, our game kind of fell apart. They were very good and we were very bad. They executed and we did not. I didn't think we were very connected and give them credit, they took what we gave them and that's what good teams do. At the end of the night, it was a 6-2 sour sandwich."

Air Force (3-4-0 overall) will face second-ranked Denver, Saturday, Oct. 28, at 6:05 pm at Magness Arena in Denver.