Men's Hockey Unable to Overcome Early Deficit in 4-3 Loss at Air Force

Saturday, November 1

USAF Academy, Colo.

7 p.m.

Brown University

0-2-0

Air Force

3-4-1

Brown

Air Force

Photo by: Brown Athletics

Men's Hockey Unable to Overcome Early Deficit in 4-3 Loss at Air Force

11/1/2025 10:31:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score Photo Gallery

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The Brown Bears (0-2-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) were unable to overcome an early three-goal deficit against the Air Force Falcons (3-4-1, 0-2-0 AHA) Saturday night at Cadet Ice Arena, ultimately falling 4-3.

"Obviously, we play to win hockey games and we've worked really hard since the guys have been back to be able to step on the ice and play at a high level from the beginning," Jeanette and Richard Given Men's Ice Hockey Head Coaching Position Brendan Whittet '94 said. "I thought we started off slow again tonight and we put ourselves into a 3-0 hole nine minutes into the game. It's really hard to recover.

"We played more towards how we have to play in the second and third, but just ran out of time. I thought we had them on their heels; we were forechecking aggressively and we scored some nice goals. We had the puck for long stretches; we just have to start games better. It's two games in; we'll have a great week of practice and be ready to go for our home opener."

"We learned a lot this weekend. Obviously, we want to win, but it was a good trip in terms of figuring some things out and seeing who wants to play the right way. I look forward to this week of preparation and getting after it on Friday against Princeton, who is 2-0 after a good weekend at home."

Air Force jumped to an early lead 47 seconds into the opening period as Nick Sajevic batted the puck out of the air in the slot. Brown challenged the goal for high sticking, but the call on the ice stood.

The Falcons doubled the lead less than three minutes later as Will Staring tallied his second goal of the season. Brendan Gibbons and Jake Peterson both picked up assists on the first two goals.

Staring added his second of the game with a quick shot to beat Brown goaltender Fred Halyk (2 saves) at 9:04 of the period. Tyler Shea (21 saves) replaced Halyk between the pipes following the goal.

Brown stormed back in the second period with three goals to cut the Falcon lead to one heading into the third period.

Tanner Hartman wired a wrist shot to beat Dominik Wasik (27 saves) for Brown's first goal of the season 5:01 into the period. Ivan Zadvernyuk and Charlie Gollob picked up the assists on the goal. Zadvernyuk hit the post on a shot four minutes later.

The Falcons pushed the lead back to three goals at 10:54 of the second as Sam Stitz found the back of the net.

Ryan St. Louis tallied his first goal of the season with 4:07 remaining in the frame. The captain found the loose puck and blasted a shot past Wasik. Matt Desiderio picked up the primary assist and Zadvernyuk added the secondary assist.

Brian Nicholas cut the Falcon lead to one just 41 seconds later, The sophomore carried the puck into the zone and found his own rebound for the goal after Wasik made the initial save. Matt Cataldo and Desiderio picked up the assists.

Shea made two brilliant saves in the third period to keep the Bears within a goal. He made a massive save on Ren Mourque early in the period on an odd-man rush and a breakaway save on Cole Christian with 7:45 remaining.

The Bears pushed late in the period looking for the equalizer and pulled Shea with 1:51 remaining, but were unable to force overtime.

"College hockey is interesting, anybody can beat anybody, and I believe in this team and I think they believe in each other," Whittet added. "It's not how you start, it's how you progress and how you finish. I think this team will be there at the end."

GAME NOTES

Desiderio picked up his first collegiate points with the two assists and his first multi-point game.
Brown finished the night with a 30-27 edge in shots on goal, including a 17-7 edge in the second period.
Both teams came up empty on the power play with Brown finishing 0-for-1 and Air Force 0-for-2.

The Bears open ECAC play next weekend at Meehan Auditorium against the Princeton Tigers (2-0-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) on Friday and the seventh-ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats (5-2-1, 0-0-0 ECAC) on Saturday. Both games are set to begin at 7 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.

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