BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Andrew Volkening made 43 saves, and Derrick Burnett and Jacques Lamoureux scored in Air Force’s 2-0 victory over Michigan on Friday in the first round of the NCAA hockey East Regional.
Air Force (28-10-2) will face third-seeded Vermont — a 4-1 winner over Yale — in tonight’s regional final. Michigan, the No. 1 seed in the region, finished 29-12-0.
It was Air Force’s first NCAA Tournament victory, in this their third consecutive trip. And the Falcons did it despite finishing with just 13 shots on goal — the fourth-lowest total in tournament history.
Michigan, shut out for the fifth time this season and the first time in 71 NCAA Tournament games, outshot Air Force 16-3 in the first period and 43-13 overall.
“We knew we couldn’t stop Michigan’s speed,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “When you look at the game, they had a lot of shots. But how many second shots did they get? Our game plan was to keep them outside, put them wide and defend away from the puck.
“We knew they were going to get shots, but we knew if they scored we wanted it to be one-shot goals. Getting second shots on Volkening is hard, but my hat is off to the guys.”
Burnett opened the scoring on a power play with 4:42 left in the first period, beating Bryan Hogan with a wrist shot into the top-left corner. Lamoureux made it 2-0 at 7:02 of the second, taking a pass from Matt Fairchild and sliding the puck past Hogan.
“When you are going to build a successful team, you need a solid goalie,” said Lamoureux, a Hobey Baker Award finalist as one of college hockey’s best players. “We build off his confidence, and he makes those saves early and we built off it. If things don’t go his way, he doesn’t get rattled or anything like that. His confidence helps the team’s confidence.”
The Wolverines were 0-for-7 on the power play, failing to convert on an early 1:19 5-on-3 skating advantage.
“Everything happened that needed to happen for us tonight,” Serratore said. “We had several bounces go our way, we found a way to get a lead. . . . You get behind teams with that kind of speed, and things get worse.”
Air Force 1 1 0 — 2
Michigan 0 0 0 — 0
First period — 1, Air Force, Derrick Burnett (Jeff Hajner, Greg Flynn), GWG, PPG, 15:18.
Second period — 2, Air Force, Jacques Lamoureux (Matt Fairchild, Greg Flynn), 7:02.
Goalies — Air Force, Andrew Volkening (60:00, W), saves 16-11-16—43 (0 goals against). Michigan, Bryan Hogan (57:06, L), saves 2-4-5—11 (two GA).
