Air Force no doubt had plenty of intel on its new director of hockey operations, Ben Kinne, who was announced this week.

Ben Kinne

Kinne came from Cedar Rapids of the USHL, where he had served as an assistant coach the past three seasons. It’s a program the Falcons are familiar with – rising junior goalie Zach LaRocque was recruited from there.

Kinne also played at Bemidji State, coached by Tom Serratore, younger brother of Falcons coach Frank Serratore. Kinne was a two-time captain for the Beavers.

Kinne becomes the fourth person in four seasons in the role, following Steve Miller, Corey Millan and Jacques Lamoureux. Miller is now Ohio State’s associate head coach, Millan is a USHL assistant and Lamoureux is teaching at the Academy.

Read more about Kinne’s hiring here.

Haak honored, again

At this rate, Kyle Haak‘s parents will need to build an addition on the family home to accommodate their son’s trophies.

The 2019 graduate recently became the first Air Force hockey player in program history to earn academic All-American honors three times. Haak, who was selected the Academy’s top scholar-athlete for 2018-19, also won the national Senior CLASS Award and was a co-recipient of the program’s Jim Bowman Award as the teams’ top scholar-athlete.

Best in class

Two more Falcons – graduating seniors Matt Koch and Matt Serratore – were honored by Atlantic Hockey as the conference’s student-athletes of the year. Each posted a 4.0 grade-point average each semester of the 2018-19 school year.

Four Falcons previously were honored as such when the team played in College Hockey America. A combined 14 Falcons made Atlantic Hockey’s All-Academic Team (3.0 gpa or higher). The group included all seven of the team’s seniors, with Dan Bailey, Billy Christopoulos, Evan Feno and Evan Giesler joining Haak, Koch and Serratore on the squad.

©First Line Editorial 2019