Earlier this month The Flight Path surveyed the Air Force hockey team about various player characteristics.
Twenty-five of the 30 players on the roster responded (83 percent) through an online survey. All results were anonymous. I’d like to thank the AFA players for taking the time to take the survey.
I’d also like to thank the following sponsors for helping make this possible:
Kostoff and Co. at Nova Home Loans – The Right Loan, The Right Lender
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What follows is fourth of five parts of the survey, along some accompanying analysis.
Part 4: Defense, positioning and leadership
16 – Which player is the best at forcing turnovers?
Jordan Himley – 5 (20 percent)
Matt Serratore – 4 (16 percent)
Dylan Abood, Erik Baskin, Phil Boje, Evan Feno, Erich Jaeger and Matt Koch – 2 (8 percent)
Evan Giesler, Tyler Ledford, Trevor Stone and Brady Tomlak each received a vote.
Behind the numbers: A survey-high 12 players were named here, and if you have 12 players in your lineup who are deemed good at forcing turnovers, you’re probably a very good defensive team, or at least one that’s committed defensively. And that, my friends, is the Falcons at their best.
17- Which player is the most positionally sound?
Billy Christopoulos – 6 (24 percent)
Kyle Haak – 5 (20 percent)
Phil Boje – 4 (16 percent)
Dylan Abood – 3 (12 percent)
Erik Baskin, Matt Serratore and Joe Tyran – 2 (8 percent)
Dan Bailey also received a vote.
Behind the numbers: This is one of Christopoulos’ strengths. Teammates have told me he’s very good at sealing off the lower part of the net because his positioning is so good. Up front, Haak and Serratore are noticeable in this category, and it should surprise no one that Boje and Abood are the Falcons’ shutdown D pair.
18 – Which player is consistently the hardest worker off the ice?
Dylan Abood – 20 (80 percent)
Pierce Pluemer – 3 (12 percent)
Billy Christopoulos and Matt Pulver each received a vote.
Behind the numbers: When 80 percent of your team views your captain as your hardest worker, that tells you plenty.
19 – Which player is the most resilient?
Dylan Abood – 13 (52 percent)
Jonathan Kopacka – 3 (12 percent)
Jordan Himley – 2 (8 percent)
Erik Baskin, Billy Christopoulos, Evan Feno, Tyler Ledford, Pierce Pluemer, Matt Pulver and Matt Serratore each received a vote.
Behind the numbers: Every one of the 10 players on this list has overcome an injury of some sort in the past couple of years or has worked his way into the lineup or into a more important role in the lineup.
20 – Which player consistently leads by example the most?
Dylan Abood – 20 (80 percent)
Erik Baskin – 2 (8 percent)
Phil Boje, Billy Christopoulos and Evan Feno each received a vote.
Behind the numbers: Just as he was overwhelmingly viewed as the hardest worker off the ice, Abood dominates this category as well. That speaks more to how special he is and not that he’s that far above his peers because I can name at least a dozen Falcons I’d put in this category.
Previously
Part 2: Shooting and stick handling
Part 3: Passing, vision and face-offs
Coming up:
Part 5: Breaking down the numbers
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Copyright First Line Editorial 2017
