Two Air Force hockey players – 2018 graduate Dylan Abood and rising senior Kyle Haak – have earned Academic All-America honors as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Kyle Haak

AFA captain Dylan Abood

Haak was a second-time pick, while Abood was on the third team. Haak’s selection marks the second year in a row he’s been so honored; he made the third team a year ago.

Haak is the top cadet in his class at the Academy, carrying a 3.96 grade-point average as a physics major with a minor in nuclear weapons strategy. Abood, who grew up in the Denver area and played youth hockey for the Littleton Hawks and Colorado Thunderbirds, finished his four years at the Academy with a 3.85 GPA as an electrical engineering major.

Abood, who was a two-time captain for the Falcons, won the 2018 Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award, named after the former Army hockey player who was killed in action. He also was a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award. A tough, reliable player in every zone, Abood finished fourth in Atlantic Hockey with 66 blocked shots.

After an injury-riddled regular season, Haak played his best hockey for the Falcons when it mattered most this past season, scoring four points in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament, including the winning goal in a semifinal victory over Canisius. AFA then defeated Robert Morris to win its second consecutive AHC tournament and gain an NCAA Tournament berth.

Haak played junior hockey for the Aberdeen Wings of the NAHL, where he served as a captain his final season. Abood played junior hockey for the Wenatchee Wild and Rio Grande Killer Bees in the NAHL.

Once there, the Falcons knocked off top-seeded St. Cloud State in the NCAA West Regional and pushed eventual champion Minnesota Duluth to the wire in the elite eight. Abood and Haak helped the Falcons to the final eight each of the past two seasons, only the second and third times in school history the program has reached that point.

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