This is part 2 of a two-part series by The Flight Path on how the Air Force Academy hockey coaching staff navigates the world of recruiting under a set of constraints only it and Army West Point have to contend with in NCAA Division I hockey.
READ Part 1 here for more on Falcons recruiting
Locking onto recruiting targets
Once the Air Force coaching staff has identified hockey players who loosely fit the criteria, they form a sort of master list during the summer. assistant coach Andy Berg said it includes as many as 30 or 40 junior players and 10-20 Midget and high school players.
The key step, he added, is going from 30 to 40 to the 10 or so they really want to zero in on once the players’ seasons have started.
“Either you’ve gotten it done and are producing points or you’re playing well,” Berg said. “Or we see some upside that hasn’t been developed.”
Once a prospect has been identified and viewed in person, Berg, fellow assistant Joe Doyle and head coach Frank Serratore will take another vital step.
“At that stage we want to do a home visit because that can tell us if it’s a good fit,” Berg said. “It’s massively important to educate them about the Academy. Very few know much about it, but the vast majority are very open and want to learn more.
“If everything checks out, then we move on to a campus visit during the season, which is usually a Sunday-Monday-Tuesday time slot.
“On Monday, they go to class with one of our players and see a normal school day. They watch practice and tour the facilities, usually with their parents. They can ask any questions they want, and our players will 100 percent tell the kid what they need to know about basic training, their freshman year, unit training, how much free time they can expect.”
During this phase the selling of the academy experience and its accompanying military commitment begins. However, it’s a process that is nowhere near as onerous as it might seem.
“We aren’t getting the top-level players; we’re getting those next-level guys,” Doyle said. “But they’re getting a five-year job opportunity on the back end. They have a good-paying job with real responsibility. For the right kid, that’s not a negative.”
Nor is the military component, the coaches said.
“The military commitment is our biggest hurdle,” Berg said. “Academically, you’re going to get a top-10 education and get paid to come. We have a top-20 hockey program. When you’re done you have a guaranteed job with a competitive salary and benefits.
“Everyone has all sorts of misperceptions. … You do have to embrace that at some point your number could get called for deployment. But what our guys do is different than what other branches do.”
Matt Pulver was the rare early commit to Air Force. Photo courtesy of Paat Kelly and Air Force Athletics
Added Doyle, “The military training, that’s basic training. Once you’re in school it doesn’t matter if you’re a reporter, a businessman or a pilot, the stuff they’re learning about leadership and followership will serve them well in life.
“We don’t look at any of what we have to offer as a hand tied behind our back. Everyone has a full scholarship plus they’re paid $1,000 month. The cost of living other kids are getting isn’t close.”
Then there is the level – and amount – of education. The Academy requires its cadets to take roughly 33 percent more hours to graduate (160 to 120) than many schools, and the cadets have to finish them in four years.
“Over the years hockey has increasingly become more and more an affluent sport,” Berg said. “Most players are coming from families who are well off, the majority of parents are educated and value education. Our recruiting pool has increased over the past 8-10 years. Academically there are more Academy-qualified candidates than there used to be.”
“We’re not the only school with high standards – the Ivys, Notre Dame are very strong. But we have a lot to offer.”
MORE: A sneak peek at the fall 2018 recruits
What do these Falcons look like?
That’s the process for finding Falcons, but what attributes does a typical player have?
“We look at it position by position and by skill set,” Berg said. “If you’re a center, can you play a 200-foot game? Are you a jitterbug who can create? We like to put together a team where we have it all covered.
“The baseline is skating, that’s 1A. 1B is the brain – how well do you think the game, can you react quickly? The game keeps getting faster and faster.
“Fitness level and strength are important.”
Doyle broke it down even more holistically.
“The perfect Falcon is five guys times five who have different skill sets so we can have everything in our lineup,” he said. “Feet are massively important. And you better have beyond a good brain. Guys who don’t have both will skate themselves through great spots without knowing it.
“There are three other skills we look at. What is their skill level, can they make plays? Size is another. If you’re 6-foot-2 and you’re going against someone who is 5-9, you’re probably going to win that battle much more often than not.
“The fifth thing is compete level, a mega compete level.”
What if you find someone with all five?
“Almost nobody has all five,” Doyle said. “If they do they’re Jack Eichel and they’re in college one year.”
Players like Matt Serratore, whose game is extremely versatile, are highly valued by Air Force. Photo courtesy of Russ Backer and Air Force Athletics
So for the Falcons to succeed on a macro level they need to find a balance of players with the characteristics they desire within a framework of what the team needs in a given year.
“Realistically we’re looking for 3-4 of those attributes. If we can find someone with 3, 3.5 or 4, you’re going to play for us,” Doyle said. “We’ll look at a class and ask what are they bringing us? What are we losing? Do we have enough pace and enough guys with solid brains? Enough guys with sticks who are going to make plays? Enough guys with a mega compete level in their game?
“What are we losing, what’s coming? It’s usually a two-year window. What are we light on? We’d love one more above-the-pace player. We don’t have a rugged forward who’s going to go to the net front.
“Those are month-to month, three-month-to-three-month, six-month-to-six-month evaluations we make.”
And those evaluations are happening weekly, usually in the office, the coaches said.
“Sometimes they’re spur of the moment or after a game while we’re on the road,” Doyle said.
The last word
The inner workings of the staff are also one of the reasons the Falcons have been so successful in procuring and developing players. Berg and Doyle log the most miles, but that is not to imply head coach Frank Serratore isn’t heavily involved.
“We prefer all three guys get eyes on a kid, but Frank can’t get out as often,” Doyle said. “What I’m thankful for is the level of trust and confidence he has in us and we have in each other. No one is afraid to speak up.
“Once we have the bigger pool narrowed down, he gets more involved. If we have two forwards we like and two defensemen we like, we’ll send Frank and see which ones he likes better. Even though he’s not on the road as much, if you don’t think he doesn’t know what cereal these kids had for breakfast you better think again.”
Added Berg, “There is some debate, but by the time it’s done I don’t know if we’ve ever not agreed. Frank is very disciplined in his approach, and he’s probably trained us (laughing).
“Joe and I have been here long enough to know the right type of kid to fit here at the Academy. We usually are on the same page.”
That teamwork has begat an unparalleled run of success at the Academy as the Falcons will try to fashion their fourth 20-win season and third consecutive NCAA appearance when the season opens in October. By then the work to find Falcons for ensuing years will be well underway.
©First Line Editorial 2017-18
