There is no truth to the rumor that Dylan Abood‘s parents, Tom and Mary Jo, are considering building an addition onto the family’s Centennial home. But no one would blame them if they were. After all, they’re going to need someplace to store all of the awards their son, a two-time captain at Air Force, earned this season.
Abood culminated his Falcons career, and one of the program’s most compelling seasons, with a transport plane full of honors.
AFA captain Dylan Abood
Earlier this month, the senior was selected the recipient of the 2018 Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award, which is given out annually by the Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA).
The award is in honor of former Army co-captain Derek Hines, a “consummate team player and team builder. Hines, who played at Army from 1999-2003, was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 1, 2005 in Afghanistan. Each of the six Division I hockey conferences nominates a player to a national ballot. Sports informations directors from each conference vote for a winner “who displays exemplary sportsmanship, is supremely competitive, intelligent and extraordinarily conditioned with an unmatched work ethic. The contributions of this individual, on and off the ice, cannot be measured by statistics alone.”
That came just days after Abood won a program-record four of the Falcons’ top eight awards at the team’s season-ending hockey banquet.
Abood won the Vic Heyliger Award (dedication, character, leadership and work ethic), the Larry Cronk Award (most inspirational player), the Defensive Player of the Year and was a co-recipient (along with Kyle Haak and Matt Koch) of the Jim Bowman Award (scholar-athlete).
Abood won the Heyliger and Iron Bolt (most diligent worker in the weight room) awards in 2017.
The most remarkable part about all of this is that Abood estimated he was a month away from being finished playing hockey when Air Force recruited him midway through 2013.
Abood, an electrical engineering major, has a 3.85 GPA and has been on the dean’s list every semester he’s been at the Academy. The former Littleton Hawks and Colorado Thunderbirds player is a three-time member of the Atlantic Hockey all-academic team. He also was a finalist for the senior CLASS award and is the flight commander of his squadron.
This past summer, he travelled to Hanscom AFB, Mass., on the cadet summer research program to work with the MIT Lincoln Labs, helping to build and test a portable solar power system intended for disaster relief operations.
Abood finished second on the team with a plus-13 and fourth in AHC with 66 blocked shots. He played 122 games at AFA, getting 27 points and building a plus-35.
MORE: Salute to Falcons’ 2018 senior class
Other awards
Matt Serratore and fellow junior Billy Christopoulos as well as a pair of freshmen took home team honors for the Falcons.
Serratore, who was second on the team with 14 goals, won the Iron Bolt.
Christopoulos won the Chuck Delich Award as the team’s most valuable player. He was the MVP of the AHC tournament and a member of the NCAA Tournament West Regional all-tournament team. He led AHC in goals-against average and shutouts and was second in saves percentage.
Jake Levin received the Most Improved Player Award. After not playing the first 10 games, Levin scored two goals in his college debut.
Zack Mirageas won the John Matchefts Award as the Falcons’ top freshman. His 17 points tied him with Koch for the most by an AFA defenseman. He joined Christopoulos on the AHC all-tournament team.
Each of these four awards was voted on by their teammates.
Haak (3.96 GPA) has been on the superintendent’s list every semester and twice has been on the AHC all-academic team, as has Koch (3.87 GPA). Koch has been on the dean’s list every semester.
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