Trailing by four goals Saturday less than 12 minutes into an Atlantic Hockey Association game, Air Force (11-10-6, 9-6-6) rallied for a wild 5-5 overtime tie against league-leading RIT (14-8-7, 13-3-6) in Rochester, N.Y.
RIT led 4-2 at the start of the third period. But the Falcons received goals from John Kruse and Jacques Lamoureux to tie the game 4-4. RIT responded with a goal by Adam Hartley to put the Tigers back on top with 8:44 left. Air Force scored its fifth goal on a power play when Kyle DeLaurell scooped a shot past Tigers goaltender Shane Madolora to tie the game again.
Air Force scored three power-play goals overall and outshot RIT 32-27, including a 14-6 advantage in the third period. Air Force goaltender Jason Torf was pulled 9:25 into the game, having allowed three goals on seven shots. Stephen Caple replaced Torf and stopped 18-of-20 shots.
“After we got down 4-0, we talked about putting it behind us and kept battling,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “Our power play came through for us. We have some things to polish up in our game, but our guys have remarkable resiliency. These guys have some character.”
