When Billy Christopoulos missed Air Force’s series against Bentley last month because of the flu, there wasn’t a lot of concern.

After all, the Falcons swept Bentley and the senior goaltender figured he’d be back the following weekend.

“I got super sick on that Thursday (Nov. 8), throwing up,” Christopoulos said. “I went to the doctor. They thought it was the flu, so I thought I’ll ride this one out.”

A bug isn’t out of the ordinary, and Christopoulos said he’d struggled with stomach issues in the past. But the ride got a lot bumpier the next few days, and ultimately he had to go to the hospital, where the dots finally started to get connected.

“Four or five days had gone by, and I’ve lost 17 pounds and could hardly stand up,” he said. “Something’s wrong. I’ve got to go to the hospital. They did some tests and took some pictures.

“I had a surgery when I was a baby on my stomach, and scar tissue from that surgery over 25 years had built up and cut off my small intestine. So I had an abdominal obstruction. So they had to go in there remove some of that scar tissue and open things up.

“We thought it was just the flu but it ended up being this whole thing.”

There were some nervous moments for the team as well, even though they had to move forward, coach Frank Serratore said.

“It eased my mind when they discovered it wasn’t something life threatening,” the coach said. “Fortunately the scope worked and he could come back at some point this season.”

Christopoulos missed the Falcons’ trip to AIC the following weekend, and then the team had Thanksgiving week off, allowing him further time to heal.

“It was a brutal two weeks,” Christopoulos said of those first two full weeks in November. “Pretty much right after the surgery my stomach, minus the cuts, was functioning great.”

Roughly two and a half weeks removed from surgery, Christopoulos – who had regained quite a bit of the weight he’d lost – traveled with the team to RIT on Nov. 28, two days ahead of a key Atlantic Hockey Conference series. He felt well enough to start on Friday night, and his teammates turned in one of their better defensive performances of the season, limiting RIT to just 19 shots on goal in a 3-1 Air Force victory.

“Going into that RIT weekend I felt pretty ready go, then after that Friday I felt a little tired, a little sore,” he recalled. “I felt better Saturday.”

That might qualify as the understatement of the year. Christopoulos was superb in the rematch, stopping all 31 shots he faced for his first shutout of the season in the Falcons’ 3-0 victory.

“That Saturday it was all Billy. RIT played a lot better,” Serratore said. “On Friday, he did his job. On Saturday, he went above and beyond the call of duty. We’ve never had a goalie play a better game. He wasn’t lucky, he was solid. Pucks weren’t hitting him, he was making saves. It was a heroic effort.”

And one that pushed the goalie to his limits, Christopoulos said.

“After the Saturday game I was pretty beat because I had been sitting down, not even moving, for the past week and a half,” he said.

This past weekend, he notched his second shutout in a row with an 18-save effort against Mercyhurst before sustaining his first loss in his four games back on Saturday, 4-1.

“This weekend I felt great, so everything is pretty much back to normal,” Christopoulos said.

There is no telling how much the condition affected Christopoulos, but recovery and all he clearly has posted better numbers since the emergency surgery.

In eight games before he was 4-4 with a 2.97 goals-against average and .889 save percentage. Since, he’s 3-1 with his first two shutouts of the season, a 1.00 GAA and a .960 save percentage. Overall, he lowered his GAA to 2.31 and raised his save percentage to .912 – in four games.

Through the ups and downs, the goalie found a silver lining in what was a brutal process.

“It’s actually funny,” Christopoulos said. “I’d had some stomach problems for years, just about every year, nothing that bad, but hopefully this has resolved it all. That would be ideal.”

With the Falcons off the next two weekends, he’s hopeful he can return at full strength, something he wishes for his teammates who have battled first-half injuries as well.

“(The break) is massive. That’s going to be huge for me,” he said. “I’m sure a couple weeks will be huge for everybody.”

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