If Air Force’s hockey team needed any reminders about the importance of blocking shots, they got a couple Sunday.
The one that was: senior defenseman Dylan Abood blocked one right off a defensive zone face-off late in the Falcons’ 1-0 win in the deciding Game 3 at Army West Point.
AFA captain Dylan Abood
“If that gets through it might have been the game the way things were going,” Falcons coach Frank Serratore said this week.
The one that wasn’t: Tyler Ledford‘s turn-and-fire, game-winning goal from near the top of the circles in overtime.
“Any shot from anywhere can go in,” senior defenseman Phil Boje said. “Look at our goal Sunday.”
Those impressions remain strong heading into Friday night’s game against Canisius in an Atlantic Hockey Conference semifinal (6 p.m.) at Rochester, N.Y. The Golden Griffins feature a prolific offense (117 goals, second only to Mercyhurst in the league, and 19 more than Air Force) and a Hobey Baker Award semifinalist in Dylan McLaughlin.
Click here for a game-by-game comparison of the teams
“Blocking shots are one of the emphases on our team,” said Boje, whose 90 are second in the nation. “We want to be a hard-working team, we’re a deep, fast team. The blocks define part of who we are because everyone knows how important it is.
Assistant captain Phil Boje
“It’s something everyone is willing to do.”
This is a case of mind over matter, however, because does anyone really want to get hit by a piece of vulcanized rubber traveling around 100 mph? Goalies sign up for that, but they’re a different case altogether.
“It isn’t something I want to do,” said Boje, an assistant captain for the Falcons. “But I have to.”
Abood, the team’s captain, said Boje’s willingness to clog shooting lanes is inspirational.
‘It’s something I try to emulate,” said Abood, who has done it 58 times this season. “Across the board we have to do it, it’s part of our team mentality.
“When guys on our team are willing to lay out, that makes a statement to the other team that we’re going to do whatever it takes to win.”
Boje can’t recall blocking an inordinate amount of shots in junior hockey, where among other things he won a Clark Cup in 2013 with Dubuque, then coached by Denver coach Jim Montgomery. The reason was simple.
“We wore half shields,” Boje said. “Now that we wear full cages in college, and we wear a lot of pads, it doesn’t have quite the same impact.”
There’s another way to look at this. Maybe the pucks have gotten together and decided it’s time to extract a little revenge on Boje, whose powerful slap shot is well known.
This is a player who snapped as many as 20 sticks per season in his Air Force career at the pucks’ expense. This became an issue to the point that he and Falcons equipment man Robert Rush have been working with Warrior Hockey on coming up with a stick shaft that Boje can’t destroy as readily.
“The shot has always been part of my game,” Boje said. “I try to get as many pucks to the net as I can. It’s always been part of my mentality, and it creates scoring opportunities.”
Not known as an offensive defenseman per se, Boje still creates a lot of offense (15 points so far this season after 30 a year ago) because of his shot. On the other hand, part of his flight plan (he’s going to pilot training after he graduates this spring) is stopping the very same thing he’s trying to create.
“He’s as tough as they come,” Serratore said. “The defensive plays he and Abood make fire up the team immensely.”
And that’s particularly important now.
“At playoff time every single play matters,” Abood said. “You can be one bounce away from losing or moving on.”
©First Line Editorial 2017-18
