What can we expect from Air Force Academy’s eight returning seniors? Who is poised to break out? Can Phil Boje and Jordan Himley replicate their spectacular junior seasons? In advance of the 2017-18 season opener, we begin our player-by-player look at the Falcons’ returning players with a closer look at the senior class.
This is a deep and skilled group that is expected to lead the Falcons to great heights this season. Players are listed alphabetically.
Dylan Abood
A two-time captain, Abood’s play can’t be measured in numbers. He won’t score a lot (seasons of 8, 8 and 5 points) but neither will opponents when he’s on the ice. He plays tough minutes – lots of d-zone starts and penalty killing time – but he is rarely penalized (just five minors last season). The Falcons dearly missed him when he battled early season injuries. Still, he blocked 64 shots, second most on the team.
Erik Baskin
The 6-3 winger will wear an “A” this season, and it’s no wonder. He is as steady as they come with point totals of 19, 24 and 23 and goal totals of 10-12-11. He didn’t go more than four games without a point all season, and he was huge at the end of the regular season – getting 9 points in the last seven AHC games. He’s disciplined (seven minors), and he is a special teams threat – three power-play goals and two short-handers. His consistency and net-front presence created space for frequent linemates Jordan Himley and Kyle Haak.
Phil Boje
The defenseman was superlative last season, putting up 30 points (9 goals) and playing much better defensively in an all-AHC season. The point total was six more than his first two seasons combined. His plus-16 was second best on the team (after a combined -4 his first two seasons). There wasn’t a lot of question what he would do with the puck in the offensive zone as his 109 shots were the most on the Falcons, and a vast majority of those were high velocity ones. He never went more than three games without scoring, and he had streaks to start the season and at the end of the regular season when points came in bunches. Boje, who is also an assistant captain this season, was a big threat on the power play (four goals) and he’s a tone-setter, getting the first goal three times for the Falcons. And he blocked a team-high 83 shots. He turned the corner in his college career last season and it isn’t a stretch for him to be considered one of the nation’s elite defensemen this season.
Jordan Himley
The winger found great chemistry with center Kyle Haak and had a career year. Not only did his 37 points and 22 goals lead the Falcons, but the goal total put him in the top 11 in the nation. Breakout season doesn’t even begin to describe what Himley had. His goal total doubled his combined amount from his first two seasons, and his point total was nearly double his sophomore tally. He was dangerous with the puck on his stick: Five of his strikes were game-winners (first on the team) and five were the all-important first goals. He also tallied three times with the man advantage and twice short-handed. Most remarkably, he scored on 27.2 percent of the shots he took. To put that into context, the Falcons’ average was 10.5 percent. Had Himley averaged one more shot per game and maintained that pace he would have led the nation in goals with 32. He was a horse down the stretch, too. From February on he had 18 points (8 goals) in 14 games, including the AHC and NCAA tournaments.
Jonathan Kopacka
The blue liner is one of several Falcons coming off serious injuries. Kopacka broke an ankle on Jan. 6 at Merrimack, ending his campaign after 16 games and six points, a points-per-game average slightly up from his first two seasons at the Academy. He was one of only two minus players on the team, which ran counter to his performance in his first two seasons.
Ben Kucera
Kucera had goals in the first three games then just two more the rest of the season. But those two came in an AHC quarterfinal series against Bentley. In between he battled injuries and inconsistency, picking up just two assists between mid-October and mid-March. However, he possesses one of the best shots on the team (17.2 percent accuracy, second only to Himley among players with more than 30 shots) and he had 15 goals and 25 points as a sophomore. He is a clutch goal scorer, too. Three of the five goals were game-winners and two were first goals. He, like Kopacka, is a strong bounce back candidate.
Tyler Ledford
The shifty center, the third assistant captain, also was prone to long slumps (13 and seven games), but when he’s hot he can get points every game for a month (which he did once and nearly a second time). He also was excellent in the AHC final four and the NCAA Tournament. His 22 points were seventh on the team and that is his career average after 18 his freshman year and 27 during his sophomore season. He also was an important cog in the faceoff equation for the Falcons, winning 56.7 percent of his 654 draws (most on the team). Much like Himley and Baskin, he can score in every situation.
Kyle Mackey
Yet another defenseman who is a power-play threat, Mackey got both of his goals on the man advantage and finished with 10 points overall, one off his career high of a year before. His plus-10 trailed only Boje among defensemen and he added 46 blocks. He missed just one game, which was a godsend for a Falcons blue line that was battling injuries all season.
Click here to go inside the numbers with Air Force’s juniors
Go inside the numbers on Air Force’s sophomores here
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