Hockey Battles From Three Down to Win Shootout Over Air Force & Sing Second

Saturday, February 15

USAF Academy, CO

7:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM MT

Army West Point

13-16-2, 13-9-2

Air Force

13-19-2, 10-13-1

OT 1

OT 2

Army West Point

Air Force

Hockey Battles From Three Down to Win Shootout Over Air Force & Sing Second

February 15, 2025 | Hockey

Box Score

USAFA, CO - Army West Point hockey (13-16-2, 13-9-2 Atlantic Hockey America) collected a shootout victory over the Air Force Falcons (13-19-2, 10-13-1 Atlantic Hockey America) following a 4-4 tie as the Black Knights took five of six points on the weekend.

The Black Knights trailed by three goals entering the third period, using goals from Vincent Salice, Nik Hong and a late equalizer from Mac Gadowsky to force overtime and eventually a shootout.

With the shootout win, Army secured ten of 12 points on the season from the Falcons earning two regulation wins, an overtime win and a shootout win across the four meetings.

Barron Woodring netted the shootout winner in the fifth round, with JJ Cataldo making a save later in the round to secure the second point. Cataldo made 24 saves in total to match Guy Blessing in goal for the Falcons.

With the two points secured, Army secured a top-five seed in the Atlantic Hockey America Tournament, meaning a first round bye as the Black Knights will advance to the best-of-three quarterfinal round from March 7-9.

For the first time in the four meetings this season, the Falcons got on the board first with a power play goal at the 10:44 mark as Sam Stitz notched a goal for the second consecutive night. The goal came just 13 seconds into the man advantage after the Falcons had gone 0-for-five on the power play in game one.

Less than four minutes later, Air Force added another as Andrew DeCarlo made a good in move in front before lifting a backhanded shot past Cataldo to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead, an advantage that they would take into the first intermission.

With the next goal being pivotal, the Falcons used a tight-angled pass from Anthony Yu behind the net to Clayton Cosentino who put it in the top corner to put Air Force ahead 3-0 six minutes into the second period.

Army got life late in the period with another power play opportunity, as Jack Ivey eventually buried his ninth of the season off an assist from Ben Ivey and Mac Gadowsky with 1:56 remaining in the frame.

The two-goal deficit was short-lived for the Black Knights, as Nick Sajevic tucked home a breakaway exactly a minute later to make it a 4-1 contest. Army challenged the goal for goaltender interference, but it was upheld following video review.

Army trailed 4-1 entering the third period.

The Black Knights got the goal in the early stages of the third that it needed, as Vincent Salice scored his fifth of the campaign directly off of a faceoff win from Barron Woodring at the 4:54 mark. Woodring went 11-for-17 from the dot in the game is 50-for-80 across the past two weekends.

Army continued its comeback at even strength as Nik Hong made it a one-goal game with 9:04 remaining cleaning up a loose puck at the doorstep off an assist from Sam Groebner.

The Black Knights got a power play opportunity minutes later with a chance to tie the score, but the Falcons PK stood strong and maintained its one-goal lead.

The 4-3 scoreline remained into the final two minutes when Army was able to go empty net and get into a six-on-five situation. Army's leading scorer Mac Gadowsky made the Falcons pay with a game-tying goal with 1:44 remaining off a feed from Pierce Patterson.

For the second time this season, Army and Air Force headed into a shootout. Unlike the first game at Tate Rink, neither team was able to find a winner and Army headed to a shootout for the second time in three games.

Vincent Salice and Dylan Wegner recorded shootout goals for the Black Knights as the shootout remained tied at two heading into sudden death rounds.

In the fifth round of the shootout, Barron Woodring put Army ahead with a goal as Air Force had one more opportunity to extend the contest.

JJ Cataldo was up to the task, saving his third shootout attempt to give Army the extra point and ensure the Black Knights would sing second for the second time this season.

Mac Gadowsky recorded his sixth game of the season with three-plus points, joining Boston College's Ryan Leonard as the only two players in the NCAA to reach that mark in the 2024-25 campaign. Gadowsky now leads all defenseman in the country with 12 goals and 34 points on the season.

Army will conclude the regular season with a home-and-home series with AIC, with a road contest on Friday before returning home for the regular season finale on Saturday with puck drop set for 5:00 p.m. from Tate Rink.