If Air Force wants to jump onto the national radar early during the 2019-20 hockey season, its schedule provides a chance to do just that.
The Falcons begin their 52nd season of hockey against 2019 NCAA Tournament participants Notre Dame and Arizona State in the first two weekends of the regular season, and for good measure add a third in early January when Atlantic Hockey Conference foe AIC visits Cadet Arena for the first time since early 2018.
AHC play begins on Thursday, Oct. 24, when RIT pays a visit to Air Force for the first time in three seasons. Sacred Heart also plays at Cadet Arena for the first time since the 2017 in late January.
Three AHC teams will not come to Colorado this season, including – unfortunately – Army West Point. The Falcons’ only series vs. their biggest rival is on Jan. 10-11 at West Point, N.Y. Canisius and Robert Morris also won’t travel to Cadet Arena.
In addition to AIC, the Falcons won’t travel to Bentley and Mercyhurst.
The other notable date on Air Force’s hockey calendar comes on Monday, Feb. 17 – President’s Day – when it’s possible the Falcons and Colorado College will play an outdoor game at Falcon Stadium. The NHL’s Stadium Series game between the Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings takes place two days earlier at the home of Air Force football.
It’s been assumed the Falcons and Tigers would play outdoors two days later, but that is contingent on several factors under control by the NHL, which stages the Stadium Series and temporarily “owns” the venue for that purpose.
It’s unknown if several conditions will be met in order to facilitate an AFA-CC outdoor game – chief among them ticket sales milestones for the Avalanche-Kings game. Should that threshold be crossed, then Air Force officials will have to determine if holding an outdoor game is economically viable as it would need to rent the ice from the NHL, according to source with knowledge of the situation.
You can view the entire 2019-20 Air Force schedule here.
©First Line Editorial 2019
