Sophomore forward Ethan Ullrick scored the go-ahead goal with under four minutes to play to help Air Force complete the weekend sweep over Lindenwood.
Sophomore forward Ethan Ullrick scored the go-ahead goal with under four minutes to play to help Air Force complete the weekend sweep over Lindenwood.
Ethan Ullrick could not have picked a better time to pot his first career goal. The Air Force sophomore forward, who registered a season-high three shots on goal, rifled the go-ahead goal on a shot from the high slot to complete the weekend sweep over Lindenwood.
The win marked Air Force's first sweep of the year and the first since February of last season against Robert Morris.
"This was a tight game, and it was a matter of who was going to blink first," Air Force head coach Frank Serratore said. "They had the momentum early, but then I thought we started to take it over. We knew they would come out with a big push tonight and they did. We just had to stick with it and we were trying to figure out a way to change the equation. That happened with the five-minute major. That was the difference. In some ways, this was a goalie dual. Their goaltender was really good, but ours was better. Blessing was outstanding."
The Lions jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period on Ethan Zielke's third goal of the season. The marker came on a wrist shot off a beautiful backhanded feed from Jaeden Mercie through the low slot.
Lindenwood outshot Air Force 10-6 and took a one-goal lead into the locker room after the opening 20 minutes.
Air Force flipped the script in the middle frame, outshooting the Lions 10-6, but could not get anything past netminder Owen Bartoszkiewicz, who stopped 24-of-26 on the night.
However, Air Force took advantage of their power-play opportunity with under nine minutes left in regulation to break through. Junior defenseman Chris Hedden converted on a power-play blast from the right dot.
The goal seemed to give Air Force a ton of momentum heading into the final minutes of play.
Following an errant bounce off the sideboards, forward Owen Dubois's shot rang off the post on a wide-open net. However, the puck ricocheted right to Ullrick for the second-chance opportunity with Bartoszkiewicz out of position.
Air Force's Guy Blessing picked up his third win of the 2024-25 season, turning aside 20-of-21. The senior netminder stopped a combined 46-of-49 in two starts this weekend.