If Air Force hockey’s New Year’s resolution was to score more goals, then mission accomplished. 

The Falcons entered the year on a three-game losing streak, scoring just once in those contests. Friday, Air Force continued its offensive onslaught this month, defeating rival Army 8-1 at West Point.

Air Force scored seven goals in a game against Bentley two weeks ago, six goals in a win over American International College last week and now eight Friday. All three opponents are in the Atlantic Hockey Association along with Air Force. 

Senior defenseman and captain Luke Rowe opened the scoring with a power-play goal on a slap shot from center point at 2:36. Senior forward Will Gavin picked up the assist. The Falcons followed that up with a pair of short-handed scores from assistant captain Clayton Cosentino (12:31) and junior forward Austin Schwartz (16:31) to build a comfortable 3-1 advantage at the first intermission. 

The Falcons other assistant captain senior Parker Brown (12:44) and freshman forward Brendan Gibbons (19:23) netted a pair of scores in the second period. In the third, Rowe (15:21) got his second goal and senior forward Jacob Marti (19:14)  and sophomore forward Mason McCormick (4:09) scored Air Force’s final tallies.

The eight goals are a season-high for Air Force and the most the team has scored in a single game since March 10, 2015, a 10-3 win over AIC.

“This did not feel like an 8-1 game,” coach Frank Serratore said in a release. “Everything went our way tonight. Our special teams were special and we did a good job of defending the good ice. We still have some things to clean up as we gave them some chances. Our goalie (Guy Blessing) was really good. He was the best player on the ice and you usually don’t say that in an 8-1 game. We were the better team, but we weren’t 8-1 better.”

Falcons netminder Guy Blessing had a huge day as well, recording a career-high 40 saves on the evening. The junior goalie has allowed just one goal in the last six periods against Army.

Air Force and Army will square off again at 2:05 p.m. as Serratore looks for his 500th career victory in college hockey. 

Air Force defenseman Luke Rowe takes a shot during a Nov. 10 game at the Air Force Academy.

Parker Seibold, the gazette