BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Jumping out to a lead in an NCAA tournament game has not been a problem for Air Force. It’s holding onto it which has given the Falcons fits the past two years.

Air Force erased the memory of crushing NCAA losses to Minnesota and Miami by posting the biggest victory in program history on Friday. Derrick Burnett and Jacques Lamoureux scored for Air Force and goalie Andrew Volkening kept alive an amazing playoff shutout string as the Falcons knocked off top-seeded and third-ranked Michigan 2-0 in a NCAA East Regional semifinal at the Arena at Harbor Yard.

“We felt we let those games slip away against Miami and Minnesota,” said the junior Volkening, who was between the pipes in those NCAA losses. “We didn’t want that to happen today. We came in with a winning attitude. We weren’t going to let fear grip us in the third period.”

Volkening stood his ground, turning aside 43 Michigan shots for his third consecutive playoff shutout. His postseason shutout streak has reached 218 minutes, 8 seconds. He has played every minute this season for Air Force (28-10-2).

“Everything happened that needed to happen for us tonight,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “We got several bounces our way. We found a way to get the lead. We had a chance to play with the lead. We got an incredible performance in goal from Andrew Volkening.

“We were fortunate to win a huge game,” he added.

Michigan (29-12), a Frozen Four team last year, was eliminated in the opening round of the NCAA tournament for the third time in four years. Despite the loss, a disappointed coach Red Berenson would not call this an upset loss.

“We expected a tough game so this was not an upset,” Berenson said. “This was a real good Air Force team. We knew it would be a tough team to play against. We knew we had to get the lead in the game but that didn’t happen. They got the lead and hung onto it and congratulations to them.”

“We had our chances,” Berenson continued. “We missed open nets. We hit the crossbar. The Michigan team showed up, played hard and didn’t win.”

Berenson said his team was not caught looking past the Atlantic Hockey champs.

“We were very prepared,” he said. “Our team was focused and we worked very hard. I think from time to time I think they realize that this team is really good. When we did get our moments, we needed to put the puck in goal.”

Air Force 2, Michigan 0
Team	Goal	Str
Time	Assists
First Period
1-AF	Derrick Burnett (8)	PP
15:18	J. Hajner, G. Flynn
Second Period
2-AF	Jacques Lamoureux (33)	EV
7:02	M. Fairchild, G. Flynn
Third Period
No scoring
Goaltending
AF: Andrew Volkening, 60:00, 43 saves, 0 GA
MICH: Bryan Hogan, 57:06, 11 saves, 2 GA
Penalties: AF 8/16; MICH 7-14
Power Plays: AF 1-6; MICH 0-7

“We gave them a lot of respect,” Michigan captain Chris Summers said. “We gave their goalie a lot of credit. He played a heck of a game. That’s how the tournament happens sometimes. We had a lot of shots on goal but not a lot of scoring chances. They are a great defensive team. . It shows you how precious goals are.”

Michigan dominated play in the opening period, outshooting Air Force by a 16-3 margin. Lamoureux snapped off a long shot in the opening 30 seconds, and Air Force was held without a shot for the next 14-plus minutes.

That second shot, though, proved to be the game-winner. Greg Flynn started the breakout play from the Air Force zone. Jeff Hajner skated the puck up the middle and hit Burnett with a pass on the right wing. Burnett went wide right and fired a shot from outside the faceoff dot and beat goalie Bryan Hogan with a shot over his right shoulder and just inside the left post at the 15:19 mark.

Before the game Serratore told Burnett, who is playing at 70 percent with a leg injury, he would be a scratch but Burnett insisted on playing and promised he would deliver. Score one for Burnett.

Lamoureux tallied his nation-leading 33rd goal at 7:02 of the second period. A flurry of action in the Air Force zone quickly went the other way, setting up a 2-on-1 break for the Falcons. The defenseman stayed with Matt Fairchild on the right wing, and his pass from the right dot went straight across to Lamoureux. His one-timer appeared to deflect off Hogan’s pad and into the net for the 2-0 lead. It was Air Force’s fifth shot of the game.

“Fairchild has world-class speed,” said Lamoureux, who was on the ice with Fairchild on a mixed line due to a quick change. “He might be the fastest guy on the ice. He made a great play getting the puck out of the zone. He beat the one man at the blue line. All I had to do was get it in the net. I didn’t get all of it but I put it where I wanted to. What can you say about the play he made? I was the benefactor of it.”

Berenson said his team made bad line changes on both goals, “but the goalie has to make those saves,” he said. “It was a tough game for a goalie. He didn’t get many shots.”

Air Force prevailed because it completed all of its tasks, Serratore said.

“The biggest thing is, we knew we couldn’t stop Michigan’s speed,” he 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 and getting second shots on Volkening is hard.”

THE CATS’ MEOW

Yale and Vermont have not graced the NCAA tournament all that often. Vermont was making its fourth appearance and first since 1997. Yale was making its third appearance and the first since 1998.

But the two old ECAC foes took to the ice at the Arena at Harbor Yard for the 56th time on Friday night. Vermont looked like old pros, and Yale looked, well, just old.

Vermont 4, Yale 1
Team	Goal	Str
Time	Assists
First Period
1-UVM	Peter Lenes (18)	EV
14:28	K. Medvec
Second Period
2-UVM	Viktor Stalberg (24)	EV
1:50	B. Roloff
3-UVM	Colin Vock (5)	EV
18:13	W. Stacey, D. Lawson
Third Period
4-UVM	Corey Carlson (7)	EV
16:25	unassisted
1-Y	Chris Cahill (2)	EV
18:15	R. Donald
Goaltending
UVM: Rob Madore, 59:57, 25 saves, 1 GA
Y: Alec Richards, 60:00, 22 saves, 4 GA
Penalties: UVM 7/14; Yale 5-10
Power Plays: UVM 0-5; Yale 0-7
Attendance: 8,478 (sellout)

The fourth-seeded Catamounts (21-11-5) received goals from four different players, drew some energy from killing off two 5-on-3 short-handed situations and rode 58 minutes of shutout play from Rob Madore for a 4-1 victory before Yale’s “home” crowd of 8,478.

It was the Catamounts’ second NCAA playoff win, the other coming over Lake Superior State in 1996 in their fourth tourney appearance.

“I don’t think they saw the best Yale hockey team tonight,” said a downtrodden Yale coach Keith Allain. “Our reaction time wasn’t as good as it usually is. I don’t know why, but that happens over the course of a hockey season.”

Obviously, the wounds from Vermont’s two-game ouster at the hands of UMass Lowell in the Hockey East quarterfinals had healed sufficiently with two weeks to rest, then prepare.

“I told our guys that was probably our best game of the year,” said Vermont coach Kevin Sneddon. “I really felt that. The defensive intensity, the puck battles we won, our back pressure. … That was as complete an effort we had tonight.”

The game turned in the first period, following a slew of penalties which had both teams killing off five-on-three shorthanded situations. Vermont withstood some good Yale pressure in the opening 12 minutes, with Madore making some big stops.

Peter Lenes opened the scoring at 14:28 of the first. On a breakout play, Kyle Medvec found Lenes on the left wing. He skated to the top of the left circle and released a shot that may have nipped Yale defenseman Denny Kearney and bounced past Yale goalie Alec Richards into the right side of the cage.

Some quick thinking by Viktor Stalberg led to his 24th goal of the season early in the second period. The Catamounts were on an odd-man rush and Stalberg tried to make a pass to his left, but the puck hit a defenseman’s skate, came right back to him and his quick wrister beat Richards high to the glove side at the 1:50 mark.

“I took a whack at it and it ended up being a pretty good shot,” Stalberg said. “Small bounces in a game like this (are big). It was a big goal for us.”

Once Vermont had the two-goal lead, the Catamounts started to play a more aggressive game, halting much of Yale’s offensive flow.

“They had some really big defensemen and they were tough to move,” said Yale’s Matt Nelson. “They prevented us from getting into the zone cleanly at times. They didn’t bring anything different; we just didn’t get into our routine tonight.”

“I think we closed gaps on both sides of the puck tonight and made it difficult for Yale to create offense, and that’s their game,” Sneddon said. “They are a good transition team (but) I don’t know if we gave up any odd-man rushes.”

Colin Vock made it 3-0 at the 19-minute mark of the second period. Dan Lawson’s shot from the right point was blocked, and the puck settled in the slot. Wahsontiio Stacey made a quick pass to Vock in the right circle and he beat Richards to the near post.

Vermont went up 4-0 with 3:35 to play when Corey Carlson roofed a wicked wrister from the bottom of the right circle. Carlson had skated three-quarters the length of the ice up the right wing without a Yale defenseman closing in.

Yale’s Ryan Donald scored with 1:45 remaining in the third period. On a failed clear, Donald retrieved the puck at the top of the left circle, took one stride to the dot and wristed a shot that beat Madore high.
Madore was disappointed to lose the shutout, but thrilled with the Cats’ defensive effort.

“All 60 minutes the guys played phenomenal and made my job simple,” Madore said. “They kept the shots to the outside and let me see them. … They were blocking shots all night. You can’t say enough about our defensive effort shutting them down and limiting their chances.”

Sneddon was thrilled to see the old Madore back.

“Rob was excellent tonight,” Sneddon said. “It was great to see him back. We had no questions after watching him in practice the last 10 days. He needed a break after the Lowell series. His confidence was back. He swallowed pucks and made big saves for us. I am very proud of Rob for bouncing back.”

Yale went 0-for-7 on the power play, and failed to capitalize on a pair of five-on-three advantanges.

“It’s great being here,” Lenes said. “Everyone was excited about it and we came out and showed we were ready to be here. We were well-prepared for the tournament. It shows everyone took the last two weeks to prepare for this.”

SEEN AND HEARD AT HARBOR YARD

Stand, and deliver: Air Force sophomore Derrick Burnett scored the game-winning goal against Michigan, and he wasn’t even supposed to play.

A leg injury has slowed Burnett and coach Frank Serratore pulled him aside before Friday’s East Regional semifinal to tell him that he would be scratched from the lineup.

“You can’t do that to me,” Burnett told Serratore. “Not only will I play, I will make the difference.”

Serratore was a bit taken aback but gave second thought to his original decision.

“Here’s a kid who has been great all year,” he said. “He scored last year (in the NCAAs) against Miami, and he is one of our core guys. I went to (assistant coaches Mike Corbett and Andy Berg) and I said, ‘I owe it to this kid.’ Besides, with all the TV timeouts, if he sucks I can hide him.”

As if scripted, Burnett came up with the winner when he beat goalie Bryan Hogan with a shot from the outside of the right circle that caught a tiny hole on the far side. It was his eighth goal of the season.

“He gets the puck on his stick and zips it in,” Serratore said. “Andy Berg nudges me on the bench and he said, ‘Good decision, coach.’”

Shaking off the past: Holding a third-period lead was significant for Air Force, which had squandered late leads in its last two NCAA games.

In the 2007 West Region semifinals, Air Force had taken a 3-1 lead over Minnesota in the sixth minute of the third period but the Gophers came back with goals at 11:50, 14:05, and the game-winner from Mike Carman at 15:26 for the 4-3 win.

In the 2008 Northeast Region semifinals, Air Force held a 2-1 lead over Miami deep into the third period before allowing the tying goal at 13:44. Justin Mercier produced the game-winner at 15:21 of overtime for the Redhawks.

“This is a much more mature and confident team,” said Serratore. “We’re not the team we were two years ago. Two years ago, there was a lot of self-doubt. We hadn’t done anything tangible. We were playing Minnesota in the tournament and there was nothing tangible that we had accomplished to lead us to believe that we could slay Goliath.

“Since that time we had the two close games in the NCAAs, which proved we could compete at this level, but more importantly, we had beaten Denver when they were No. 3 in the country and won the WCHA. We beat Colorado College this year when they were No. 4. We went to Minnesota and tied them in Mariucci Arena. We accomplished some tangible things to lead us to believe, ‘Hey if we can beat Denver when they are No. 3 and CC when they are No. 4, why can’t we beat Michigan when they are No. 3, and at a neutral site?”

Welcome to the Wall:

Air Force goalie Andrew Volkening has not allowed a goal in his past three playoff outings, which included the semifinals and finals of the Atlantic Hockey tournament last weekend in Rochester, N.Y. His stretch of shutout hockey in the post-season has reached 218 minutes, 8 seconds. He has stopped all 94 shots he’s seen in his last three games, and has a total of six shutouts this season.

“I was just going right until the end,” said Volkening, who admitted to being a little tired after facing 43 shots. “They have a high-powered offense so I don’t take anything for granted in a tournament like this.”

Air Force forward Jacques Lamoureux said the team is feeding off Volkening.

“When you are going to build a successful team, you start in goal, and he has been rock solid,” Lamoureux said. “His confidence going into the game leads to everyone else. He makes those saves early and we build off it. To see him rock solid and comfortable making saves and what not (is great). If things don’t go his way, he doesn’t get rattled. His confidence helps the team confidence.”

A second NCAA win for Atlantic Hockey: Air Force joined Holy Cross as the only Atlantic Hockey teams to post a victory in the NCAA tournament. The Crusaders beat Minnesota, 4-3 in overtime, in the 2006 West Region semifinals. Holy Cross bowed to North Dakota, 5-2, in the regional final.

The other four appearances by the Atlantic Hockey champs weren’t too shabby either. Air Force lost by one goal to Minnesota in 2007 and lost in overtime to Miami in 2008. Mercyhurst lost by one goal to Boston College in 2005.

“To be honest with you, the story should be Atlantic Hockey’s performance has been extraordinary considering who they’ve been matched up with,” said Serratore.

“Hey, we’re taking on No. 1 seeds. We’re not playing a third seed or a second seed. We’re playing against the top two or three teams in the country, which is not an easy matchup. It’s a pretty phenomenal performance as a league.”

“I think everybody expects (the league champ) to get 10-runned,” Serratore added, referring to the 10-run mercy rule used in some baseball tournaments. “That hasn’t happened.”

Three days to settle in: One would think Air Force would have no problem with jet lag in any situation, but the Falcons’ trip east was made easier with an earlier departure. With the availability of flights from Colorado proving difficult Wednesday, coach Frank Serratore got permission from the NCAA to leave a day earlier.

The Falcons made good use of their three days off, attending the Minnesota Wild-New York Rangers
game at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night, and practicing at Quinnipiac’s facility on Wednesday. Serratore is friends with Rangers GM Glen Sather, and the team was able to watch the Wild-Rangers game from two MSG suites.

THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

3. Viktor Stalberg, Vermont. Stalberg made his presence felt with six shots and forced Yale to keep close tabs on him. Even then, Stalberg used some quick thinking to net the eventual game-winner.

2. Rob Madore, Vermont. Okay, so he lost the shutout with less than two minutes left in in the game, but his play in the first period made all the difference as he stonewalled Yale and gave the Catamounts time to find their game.

1. Andrew Volkening, Air Force. The pressure was far more intense than what he faced in Rochester last weekend, but Volkening was again up to the task. The junior netminder is unflappable and gained a measure of self respect by posting his first NCAA win after two earlier losses.

PLUSSES AND MINUSES

Atlantic Hockey earned its second NCAA tournament victory in four seasons and its champion has represented the league quite well for the past five years. Its teams posted strong upset wins this season and Air Force, RIT, and Mercyhurst were among the hottest teams in the country after Jan. 1.

It’s one thing to send your school band to a hockey tournament; it’s another when you dress the members appropriately in hockey sweaters. The University of Michigan band members wore the maize jerseys with the blue M on the chest.

The arena hosted a “Chuck a Puck” contest following the first period of each game, with the winner gaining a prize, and college mascots threw T-shirts into the stands (one came within inches of my computer) during the second intermission.

It doesn’t take much to thrill the paying fans. Now if someone can please tell the folks from Atlantic Hockey to take a few notes on how to promote excitement at a tournament …

While it’s great for ESPN to offer up a college sports channel in ESPNU, millions of cable customers still can’t receive it. That includes Comcast subscribers in Colorado Springs, which meant Air Force fans couldn’t watch Friday’s game in their homes unless they had DIRECTV or Dish Network.

ESPN has put a lot of its programming on the web at ESPN360.com, but ESPNU programming is generally not a part of that, either. Hey, Bristol, we want our ESPNU shows on ESPN360.com.

It’s a personal gripe, but … my press position is located on the third level of one of the end zones. It’s a great view, except the work area is 10 inches wide. That’s good for a dish of nachos for fans of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, but not so ideal for journalists with a computer laptop.

FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG

Hail to the low seeds: This is only the second time in the history of the 16-team NCAA tournament that two lower seeds prevailed in a regional semifinal. At the 2007 East Regional in Rochester, N.Y., third-seeded Maine beat St. Cloud State, 4-1, behind 33 saves from Ben Bishop. Fourth-seeded Massachusetts got an overtime goal at 7:40 from Kevin Jarman in a 1-0 win over Clarkson. In the final, Maine topped UMass, 3-1.

Popping at the seams: The announced crowd of 8,478 was the largest hockey crowd at the Arena at Harbor Yard. The AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers make the Arena home.

Making them count: Air Force managed only 13 shots on goal, the fourth-lowest shot total in NCAA tournament history. “Yeah, but we had the highest scoring percentage,” said coach Frank Serratore.

Money player: National scoring leader Jacques Lamoureux of Air Force has scored a goal in 23 of 40 games this season and has a point in 27 games.

Unknown soldiers: Quick, name the Air Force backup netminders. Bet you can’t, because Andrew Volkening has played every minute for the Falcons this season. Waiting patiently (or impatiently) are freshman Stephen Caple of Rice Lake, Wis., and sophomore Tim Krystosek of Maple Grove, Minn. As long as Volkening is at the Academy, you’d have a better chance of finding Caple and Krystosek on a milk carton.

Sweet six: Only six NCAA tournament teams have played in the last three events — Air Force, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Miami. AFA is the only one to have won three consecutive league tournaments.

Feels like the pros: Air Force will be playing its 41st game of the season Saturday. The Falcons tied a school record with their 40th appearance on Friday. The 2006-07 team went 19-16-5 in 40 games.

Thirty-three years and counting: Vermont has won its last four meetings with Yale, once in Feb. 2004 and twice the following season. The Cats and Bulldogs have faced one another 56 times since 1976 with Yale holding the 27-25-4 edge.

Fifty-seven years, and counting: Yale fell to 1-3 in the NCAA tournament. The lone win came in 1952, a 4-1 decision over St. Lawrence in the tournament’s consolation game. In fact, Chris Cahill’s goal in the 59th minute of today’s loss to Vermont was the first Yale tally in an NCAA game since then.

Don’t take me out, coach: Michigan senior forwards Tim Miller and Travis Turnbull played in their 166th consecutive games on Friday. The previous Michigan record was 164, set by Rob Brown (1987-90).

First one hurts: Michigan suffered its first loss in five games against current Atlantic Hockey members. The Wolverines beat Mercyhurst, 4-3, in the 2001 NCAA West Regional in Grand Rapids, Mich., when the Lakers were members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Hockey League, the predecessor to Atlantic Hockey.

So a Cat, an Irishman, and Buckeye walk into a bar …: Vermont, Notre Dame and Ohio State are the only three NCAA Division I schools to have their men’s ice hockey and men’s and women’s basketball teams qualify for the postseason.

Hope the iPod was charged: The Michigan band arrived in Bridgeport about 3 a.m. Friday, about three hours behind schedule. Flights out of Detroit were delayed by weather, so the group arrived late to Newark, N.J., for their bus trip to Connecticut.

Atta boy, Dave: All photographs from the NCAA East Regional in Bridgeport are courtesy of David Hahn, www.csi-photo.net.

WHAT’S NEXT

The NCAA East Regional final pits Air Force and Vermont (ESPNU, 6:30 p.m. EDT). The two teams have met five times previously, and Vermont has won each game. The last meeting came in January 1992. Vermont has made one prior trip to the Frozen Four; that was back in 1996.

Vermont’s size will be an issue for Air Force, but the Falcons handled Michigan’s size and strength Friday. Air Force must find a way to take more than 13 shots on net. Rob Madore pieced together a good game for Vermont, but Andrew Volkening is the hottest netminder in the country right now.