{"id":171810264,"date":"2017-12-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-29T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/2017\/12\/29\/colorado-college-at-air-force\/"},"modified":"2017-12-30T11:01:25","modified_gmt":"2017-12-30T17:01:25","slug":"colorado-college-at-air-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/2017\/12\/29\/colorado-college-at-air-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Baskin’s hat trick propels Air Force past Colorado College"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.<\/strong> — Air Force senior Erik Baskin did not want to see Colorado College hoist the Pikes Peak Trophy for the first time.<\/p>\n

He made certain of it. Baskin recorded a hat trick by scoring the final two goals of the nonconference rivalry game in a 6-3 home victory over CC on Friday night. It was his first hat trick since playing for Minnetonka (Minn.) High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely wanted to come out flying against CC,\u201d Baskin said. \u201cThe Pikes Peak Trophy was on our minds. Coming into the year, (retaining) the trophy was one of our goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senior winger\u2019s goal with 6:39 left in the second period made it 5-3 after the Tigers had battled back to cut the Falcons\u2019 lead to 4-3 midway through the second period. He added his third tally with 6:07 remaining to seal the win and help the Atlantic Hockey Conference retain the trophy for the fifth time in \u00a0five years of existence.<\/p>\n

The 8-8-3 Falcons opened up a 3-0 lead on only three shots during the opening 4 minutes, 44 seconds of the first period at Cadet Ice Arena. The three goals ended sophomore goalie Alex Leclerc\u2019s night with no saves recorded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not the way we wanted to start,\u201d junior captain Mason Bergh (one goal, one assist). \u201cHats off to them for playing well. I am really disappointed in our effort tonight, from everyone.\u00a0 We have to regroup and come back and play Merrimack (3-2 winners at No. 2 Denver on Friday).\u201d<\/p>\n

The Air Force seniors played determined, accounting for all six goals while Tyler Ledford recorded five points (four assists) in his third game back from injury. The game for the Colorado Springs native meant a lot to him and his classmates but also about what it may mean in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked at the first half of the season and weren\u2019t happy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just this trophy although it means a lot to us. We want to finish strong the rest of the year. Hopefully we can build off of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Air Force jumped out to a 1-0 lead only 28 seconds into the nonconference game, which determines ownership of the five-year-old Pikes Peak Trophy, which was created in memory of John Matchefts, who coached at both programs during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.<\/p>\n

Ledford played a role in the opening goal when he fought off a poke check by Leclerc and sent the puck over to a wide-open Erik Baskin for the tally. Senior Kyle Mackey scored off a CC defensive breakdown with 17:47 left in the first before senior Jordan Himley scored on a power play off a pass from Ledford with 15:16 remaining for a 3-0 lead. Ledford also assisted all three of Baskin\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir goalie looked rusty from the holiday break and ours didn\u2019t,\u201d Air Force coach Frank Serratore said of CC\u2019s Leclerc and AFA junior Billy Christopolous (25 saves). \u201cWith five minutes left (in the first) we had three shots. I told them there were good shots but I wanted some more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado College (8-8-3) answered with a goal by Nick Halloran, who recorded his 10th<\/sup> tally this season to cut the lead to 3-1 with 4:57 left.<\/p>\n

Ledford put AFA ahead again by three, 4-1, but a goal by CC\u2019s Trey Bradley (three points) midway through the second made it 4-2. Bergh recorded his team-high 11th goal about three minutes later the outcome was in doubt until Baskin\u2019s second goal of the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big helter skelter for the first two periods but we finished the game strong,\u201d Serratore said.<\/p>\n

With one team goal accomplished, the Air Force seniors hope to win at Denver for the first time in program history. It won\u2019t be easy but Serratore is hopeful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier going up there when you didn\u2019t take one in the shorts on Friday night,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re playing with house money Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Air Force senior Erik Baskin did not want to see Colorado College hoist the Pikes Peak Trophy for the first time. He made certain of it. Baskin recorded a hat trick by scoring the final two goals of the nonconference rivalry game in a 6-3 home victory over CC on Friday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":22374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[803],"coauthors":[810],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171810264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171810264"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171810264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171831806,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171810264\/revisions\/171831806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171810264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171810264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171810264"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=171810264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}