Men's Hockey Falls in Season-Opener at Air Force

Friday, October 31

USAF Academy, Colo.

9 p.m.

Brown University

0-1-0

Air Force

2-4-1

Brown

Air Force

Photo by: Brown Athletics

Men's Hockey Falls in Season-Opener at Air Force

11/1/2025 12:10:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The Air Force Falcons (2-4-1, 0-2-0 AHA) tallied two goals in the final period, including an empty-netter, to hand the Brown Bears (0-1-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) a season-opening loss Friday night at Cadet Ice Arena.

"It wasn't the way we wanted to start, that's for sure," Jeanette and Richard Given Men's Ice Hockey Head Coaching Position Brendan Whittet '94 said. "It looked like our first game against their eighth game. We have to get better; we're very young, but we have to play a certain style to be successful.

"You have to finish your checks, be first on the puck, get to the net-front, and you have to be structured defensively and win those battles. We were just out of sorts, but it's the first game. We'll be better tomorrow. We have a lot of learning to do and a lot of growing to do, hopefully overnight."

Brown and Air Force traded chances in the opening period with Air Force holding a 9-5 edge in shots on goal. Ethan Mistry had Brown's best chance of the period halfway through, but Air Force goaltender Dominik Wasik (13 saves) turned it aside.

Air Force pressed in the second period as Brown goalie Tyler Shea (32 saves) turned aside all 11 shots faced in the period. Shea robbed Will Dawson with a glove save early in the period to keep the game tied.

The Falcons broke through halfway through the third as Nolan Cunningham tallied his first goal of the season, with assists going to Nick Sajevic and Sam Stitz.

Brendan Tighe and Matthew Cataldo had good chances late in the third but were unable to beat Wasik.

The Bears pulled Shea for the extra attacker with 1:50 remaining but were unable to find the equalizer. Owen Dubois found the empty net with 15 seconds remaining to push the score to 2-0.

GAME NOTES

Five Bears made their respective collegiate debuts tonight: Ashton Bynum, Matthew Cataldo, Matt Desiderio, Owen Dyer, and Brendan Tighe. Ben Poitras made his Brown debut after a season at Northeastern.
Both teams went 0-for-3 on the power play

The Bears close out the weekend series tomorrow night against the Falcons. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. Eastern time.

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