Falcons leave America via Atlantic

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Apr 12, 2005 | by JESSICA DELOS REYES THE GAZETTE

The Air Force hockey team is moving to the Atlantic Hockey Association for the 2006-07 season.

Air Force officials and Atlantic Hockey officials will discuss the move at a news conference today.

Army is a member of the Atlantic Hockey Association, which receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Air Force is a member of College Hockey America and will continue to play in CHA next season.

During the 2004-2005 season, Air Force played six of the nine current Atlantic Hockey teams, posting a 7-1-2 record. Air Force was 14-19-3 overall.

Atlantic Hockey commissioner Bob DeGregorio and former Canisius athletic director and president of Atlantic Hockey Tim Dillon visited Air Force in January for what Dillon called "a fact-finding mission." U.S. College Hockey Online reported DeGregorio visited Air Total Force again last week.

After his January visit, Dillon said that with the departure of Quinnipiac to the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference next season, Atlantic Hockey would be left with only eight member teams.

"We have a moratorium in place not to expand for the 2005-2006 season," Dillon said at the time. "So now we're looking at teams whose profiles makes sense (with Atlantic Hockey), and we narrowed the list to two."

He said the league hopes to eventually expand to 10 teams, and Air Force and Rochester Institute of Technology were the favorites to fill the two spots because of their academic similarity to other teams in the league. RIT was accepted for the 2006-2007 season in December.

Dillon said the addition of RIT and pending addition of Air Force will prompt the league to divide into two divisions. Each team will play every team in its division four times and members of the other division twice.

Air Force's departure from CHA will leave the league with five teams, causing CHA to lose its automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament. A league must have six teams for an automatic bid to the tournament.

Craig Roberts, the CHA assistant commissioner for public relations, said the league has a three-year window to find a team to fill the sixth spot.

CHA would be guaranteed an automatic qualifier in the tournament for the next three years.

Bemidji State represented College Hockey America in the NCAA Tournament and lost to eventual national champion Denver in the first round. Mercyhurst represented the Atlantic Hockey Association in the NCAA Tournament and lost to Boston College in the first round.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0178 or jdelosreyes@gazette.com