The Seventh Period takes a look at Air Force’s prospects heading into the final month of the 2019-20 regular season.
First Period
And then there were eight. Air Force needs a strong finish in its final month of the regular season, particularly the six remaining Atlantic Hockey Conference games, if it wants to enhance its chances of hosting a first-round playoff series, or better yet, getting a bye and hosting a quarterfinal set. Working in the Falcons’ favor is their schedule. They travel to Canisius for a series this weekend. After the home-and-home against Colorado College, they have Mercyhurst at home before traveling to RIT. Canisius is just behind AFA in the AHC standings and Mercyhurst is in last place. The Falcons are tied for sixth with an 8-10-4-3 league record, but RIT is in the magic fourth spot (bye and host a quarterfinal cut-off line). And, the Tigers are just three points ahead of the Falcons.
Second Period
But the schedule also works against the Falcons because several teams ahead of them have games in hand. And Holy Cross, which is right on their tail after sweeping the Falcons two weekends ago, has a head-to-head tiebreaker. Right now, getting to fourth place and finishing the season on a mini-roll is one objective.
Third Period
It can happen, but will it? The Falcons have shown glimpses all season that they could be trouble for any team in the playoffs. But, and it’s a big one, they haven’t done it on a consistent basis. They have defeated AHC front-runners Sacred Heart and AIC, but then were swept by Holy Cross. It’s been a season of swings, from a 0-7 start to s 6-1-3 stretch to the current 2-6-1 skid. Air Force needs to get back on speaking terms with Old Mo.
Fourth Period
One of the most obvious high points of late has been the play of the Falcons’ freshmen, particularly defenseman Brandon Koch. Koch was selected AHC’s rookie of the month for January, and it could be argued he’s been one of the Falcons’ best players since the Christmas break. He had nine points (3-6) in eight games in January and scored in every series. The younger brother of former Falcons co-captain Matt Koch, “BK” as he’s known, is third on the team with 14 points (seventh among D-I freshmen D). And he’s done most of that damage since December started, with 12 of his points coming in the past dozen games.
Fifth Period
A big issue for the Falcons right now is health. They could be without as many as five regulars this weekend – defensemen Carter Ekberg and Andrew Kruse and forwards Erich Jaeger, Pierce Pluemer and Matt Pulver. Ekberg has missed the past four games and Kruse has been out seven of the past nine. Jaeger, a senior assistant captain, has not played since Nov. 2 and Pluemer, who could return at Canisius, missed last weekend’s series. Pulver was injured Saturday, and the captain’s status going forward is questionable. “The concerns are many. We keep taking hits,” coach Frank Serratore said at his Monday news conference. “We’re going to be resilient. Our numbers are down, down the bare minimum of players we can dress for a game. But that’s life.
“The kids we do have are willing, hungry, hard-working kids. We didn’t come up short because we got outworked, because our attitudes weren’t good. … The last four games I’ve gone in the locker room feeling bad for our guys because they’ve given everything they had and it wasn’t enough.”
Sixth Period
Since getting pulled against AIC on Jan. 4 after allowing four goals through the halfway point of that game, sophomore Alex Schilling was pretty solid for the Falcons over the next six games, allowing just 15 goals. He had a tough time last weekend against No. 20 Sacred Heart, but three of the 10 goals allowed came on the power play, including the Pioneers’ tying and winning ones on Friday.
Seventh Period
Canisius is another of the teams with games in hand on the Falcons, and if the Golden Griffins were to sweep the Falcons this weekend in Buffalo, they’d tie them in the standings but still have two games in hand. And Air Force might be catching Canisius at the wrong time. After getting points just twice in their first 14 games, the Golden Griffins have picked up points in nine of their past 12. However, Canisius has struggled to keep pucks out of its net, allowing more than 3.6 per game, the sixth-worst average in D-I hockey. This might be a weekend for Air Force power up its offense (20 goals in the past nine games).
Note: The Flight Path continues to wage war against “technical difficulties”. Hopefully these will be resolved soon.
©First Line Editorial 2020
