It’s no secret time is of the essence to any military academy cadet. Most days are scheduled right down to the minute.
The Air Force hockey team is no different. If you’re a creature of habit. Consider their creature is more like a monster. So from a schedule standpoint, King Kong is about to meet Godzilla.
The Falcons’ home-and-home series with in-town rival Colorado College will follow an unconventional Friday-Monday schedule, but as you must know by now there is a good reason for that.
Monday’s game will be the Faceoff at Falcon Stadium, the first outdoor NCAA hockey game the Academy venue has hosted. It comes two days after the Colorado Avalanche plays host to the Los Angeles Kings in an NHL Stadium Series game.
“This game on Monday transcends a lot of things,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said at his weekly news conference. “You need to circle Monday on your calendar. There may not be another hockey game played at Falcon Stadium in our lifetime.”
Consider it circled, coach. Highlighted and underlined as well.
It’s a huge deal to the players and both programs, but assistant captain Brady Tomlak said the Falcons are striving to take it in stride.
“There is the extra media exposure and the three days between games. We have a lot of family coming into town, which is unusual, too,” he said. “The message is enjoy it when you can. When you have something to do, get it done, especially school.
“When we get on ice or in the gym, be as focused as possible. It’s going to be a fun weekend, but we have a job to do, so it’s important for us to be ready.”
Give me a ‘W’
Job No. 1 for both teams is winning.
The Falcons (8-15-5) are hoping their season didn’t crest with a 6-1-3 run after an 0-7 start. Since winning their first game of 2020, they’re 2-7-2. Part of that is due to injuries and part of it due to a trio of suspensions. The Falcons have dressed eight first-year players the past two weekends.
“Our kids are giving it everything they’ve got,” Serratore noted. “We’re right down to the bare minimum of guys. We’re hopeful we can get (captain) Matt Pulver (lower body) back this weekend.”
The key for the Falcons are pretty simple – play it tight.
“If we can score a couple of power-play goals, we’re pretty good defensively,” the coach said. “(Goaltender) Alex (Schilling) has proven week in and week out he’s going to give us a chance to win. We need to get better and better and better.
“We need to start getting rewarded on the scoreboard. … Are we going to be good enough? We’re a new team now. We’re establishing a new identity now. Let’s have a good week and take our swings again.
“It’s a historic game in our community.”
The Tigers (8-16-2) have endured similar struggles. Like the Falcons, they graduated a massive class of contributors last spring. They are starting a freshman goaltender most nights in Matt Vernon. (Schilling is a sophomore who didn’t play at all last season for the Falcons. And the Tigers, too, have had their tail nipped by the injury bug.
After a solid 6-5-1 start, the Tigers have gone 2-11-1 with injuries forcing coach Mike Haviland to ice a youthful lineup most nights as well.
“The good news is somebody in town is probably going to get a win this weekend,” Serratore said. “It’s probably not going to be a bad thing to play on Friday and not again until Monday. If you talk to Havi he might say the same thing.”
Trophy in play
An interesting subplot is the Pikes Peak Trophy, which Air Force owned the first five seasons of its existence before Colorado College claimed it decisively in the fall of 2018.
The magnitude of the outdoor game has put Colorado Springs’ hockey bragging rights on the back burner, however.
“That game on Monday is bigger than even (the Pikes Peak Trophy),” Serratore said. “We’re going to fight tooth and nail.
“It’s not even a discussion (for us) until we win Friday. It’s not easy to beat them once, it’s not easy for them to beat us.”
But the trophy is a nice door prize, and then some.
“We all take a lot pride in that trophy,” Tomlak said. “When my class arrived, the class that graduated had it all four years. It’s a special thing for us. I wasn’t able to take part in the game last year unfortunately, but I’m 2-0 against CC so I want to keep that going.
“Being a two-game series, it’s a challenge but it’s one we’re looking forward to.”
The Finally Faceoff
That the Faceoff at Falcon Stadium is taking place at all is a shot of good news for two programs that could some of it. There was plenty of speculation since the Stadium Series game was announced more than a year ago centering around the possibility of Air Force being able to play host to an outdoor game.
When CC and Air Force released their schedules, it was clear if it was going to happen, Monday would have to be the day. Still, nothing was confirmed until last month.
“We heard rumors about it all year, just like you did,” Tomlak said. “To me, there was never any doubt. I knew our coaches would find a way to get it done. Frank always finds a way to get it done.
“When we found out, we were super excited. It’s a once-in-a-career opportunity to play a game at our home stadium, one of the most beautiful stadiums in the country against our in-city rival.”
Leave it to Serratore to put it all in perspective for his team.
“(Lately) we can’t win at home, we can’t win on the road. We better win at the neutral site, Falcon Stadium, because I’m flat out running out of places to play,” the coach quipped.
Regardless of Monday’s outcome, the Front Range hockey community will be a winner.
©First Line Editorial 2020
