Clear quarantine at 4. Head down to the rink and loosen up. Play at 7.

Nothing sounds strange anymore.

Air Force team captain Jake Levin was ruled out of a home series against Robert Morris by coach Frank Serratore but made a surprise return. He wasn’t expecting to be released from contact tracing protocols until Tuesday.

“They came knocking on the door since I’ve been testing negative,” Levin said. “It was a pretty quick turnaround.”

The Falcons, short on numbers due to injuries and academy discipline, needed the senior defenseman. The coaches managed his ice time Friday but on Saturday he assumed his usual roster spot.

Levin scored at the end of the first period Saturday night to put the Falcons on the comeback trail, but they fell 4-2 to Robert Morris and to 0-4 on the season.

The Colonials’ Jordan Timmons scored a natural hat trick in the first 10 minutes to chase goaltender Alex Schilling. Zach LaRocque came on in relief for the second straight night and stabilized the Falcons.

“They came to play,” Levin said. “They had three quick ones on us. I wouldn’t say any of them were our goalie’s fault but I’d say it was a good wake-up call for us.”

LaRocque shut down a short breakaway and made sure a rising shot never got off the ground in quick succession right before Air Force went to the other end and scored. Thomas Daskas bagged his first collegiate goal to get Air Force within one and added an assist.

But a third power-play goal-against sealed the loss.

“We need to definitely tune that up a little bit,” Levin said of the penalty kill. He also pointed to faceoffs. The final numbers were close at 52.9% to 47.1%, but early on, the disparity was noticeable. The shots told the story — 18-3 early in the second period.

Twenty-five seconds into the game, a long shot from the point beat a freshly jostled Schilling. The goal was reviewed, presumably for goaltender interference, but it stood. Further study gave the goal to Timmons, who tipped it.

Serratore took his team to task for not killing the penalties, but called the non-call that led to the first goal “BS” and said the calls were uneven.

“How could they not call the Robert Morris player for running over Schilling before the first goal? I’d say anybody in the building could have made that call, but we don’t have anyone in the building,” Serratore said. “The few there are could have made it.

“That’s on a silver platter. Just make the call — it’s textbook.”

Timmons put the puck over a sprawled Schilling 4:18 later on the man advantage.

Not a great time to get into penalty trouble, but that’s what the Falcons did. Two more calls followed and Air Force soon trailed by three.

The ice seemed tilted and a comeback completely possible until Luke Robinson was whistled for slashing with 8:29 left. The first shot nailed Brandon Koch and he lay on the ice as the second attempt hit twine.

The fact that the Falcons were ever in the game again can be heavily credited to LaRocque and that timely goal from Levin.

“It’s hard to turn a game. We had nothing going,” Serratore said. “We didn’t pack it in.”

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