Air Academy blanks Doherty to open state hockey playoffs

Air Academy goalie Marcus Harbison found out the night before the Kadets’ playoff opener that he was going to start. He made the most of it.

Harbison stopped all 19 shots he faced to lead No. 3 seed Air Academy into the quarterfinals with a 3-0 win over No. 14 Doherty at Sertich Ice Center on Friday. The Kadets play Lewis-Palmer at Sertich at 1:15 p.m. Saturday.

See a photo slide show from the game

Zach Payne opened the scoring, and Erik Behr and Cam Maceau each tallied for the Kadets (12-5-3).

Harbison made a surprise start after goalie Luke Lindsay-Brisbin was named the starter going into the playoffs. Knowing that Doherty had already seen Lindsay-Brisbin and won that game 2-1, Kadets coach Dave Meisinger changed his mind.

“Early on they had a couple breakaways,” Meisinger said. “And they tried to go five-hole on Marcus, which is where they were going on Luke. Fortunate again that Marcus made the big saves.”

The Spartans (10-7-3) had five power play opportunities and Harbison held them scoreless on each. His stop on Doherty leading scorer Braden Johnson’s short-handed breakaway preserved a 2-0 lead early in the third and he made a number of saves on shots from the slot.

“Scary, scary at times,” Harbison said of his defense. “But they got the job done.”

Payne, a sophomore, scored on a rebound at 5:01 in the first. Behr scored 8 seconds after the Kadets killed off a penalty. Maceau scored on a short-handed breakaway.

Spartans coach Erik Austin was disappointed in the result but loved the effort.

“I think we dominated them,” Austin said. “Harbison played well. The better team didn’t win tonight.”