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The Air Force Falcons were shut out last Friday and Saturday, losing to American International College, 0-5 and 0-4, putting an end to Air Force’s five game win streak. From an overall statistical look, AIC breezed through the Falcons simply because they took more shots, forced more turnovers, and possessed the puck for longer.
Coach Frank Serratore explained Friday’s lost in his usual blunt fashion, saying “That was a major league butt-kicking.”
Indeed, it was a pair of bad losses, but in this 30 plus game season, growing and learning from losses like these is certainly possible.
Following Saturday’s game, Coach Serratore addressed the media again, saying “they were clearly the better team this weekend. We were better today, but they were better too. It was all about them this weekend. I am very impressed with them. If they play like that, they will be a legit contender in our league.”
Had the Falcons pulled of the sweep against AIC, they could have started to pull away from the rest of the conference in the points standing, but they now sit in second place, one point behind Niagra, who is currently on a two game win streak.
Despite last week’s disappointment, there’s no need to hit the panic button just yet. Air Force managed to go on that five game win streak prior to the AIC series with several players who were scratched due to injury. Evan Feno, Matt Serratore, and Joe Tryan have all faced injuries this season, and as they recover, the younger Falcons have stepped up to the plate.
The road ahead is daunting for Air Force. They are currently on a well-deserved 12 day break from games. It’s unclear whether we can expect to see any of the injured Falcons back on the active roster, but surely taking some time to rest and prepare for the next two weeks of game will do some good.
They travel to Rochester for a pair of games against RIT on November 30th and December 1st. The RIT squad is currently on a 3 game win streak and they swept AIC the week before Air Force played them. RIT is a very talented team. All but three of their players are products of Canadian hotbeds of youth hockey and the Falcons will be watching closely as they travel to Boston to play number 13 ranked Northeastern University.
Keep an eye out for this during the Friday and Saturday series in upstate New York. With several other matchups across the Atlantic Hockey Conference, there will almost definitely be a shakeup in the standings after the weekend concludes.