FALCONS HOPE TO MAKE ANOTHER RUN IN TOURNEY

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 15, 2008 | by KATY BOOTH

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Air Force is unbeaten in its past seven games and intends to make tonight's Atlantic Hockey Association semifinal matchup with the Rochester Institute of Technology its eighth.

The streak is the second-longest in college hockey to No. 1- ranked North Dakota. Coming in as the No. 4 seed last year, Air Force won both of its games in Rochester to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

"We've gotten better as the season has progressed, and this is the same thing that happened to us last year," Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. "You want your team to be playing its best hockey at this time of the season, and we are."

But things weren't always going so well for the Falcons.

After losing 2007 Hobey Baker finalist Eric Ehn on Jan. 19, the Falcons were swept by Army and appeared unsure how to regroup.

"When you lose a player like Eric Ehn, it changes the culture and organization of your team," Serratore said. "But I'm extremely proud of what we've done down the stretch here."

Today's game will mark the third time that Air Force has met RIT this season, and each time they have split the weekend series.

"The last time we played RIT at home, and they beat us in overtime," Serratore said. "As we were shaking hands at the end of the game, one of their players said 'We'll settle this in Rochester.' And that's what we're going to do."

The No. 2 seed, RIT (19-11-6) enters the tournament after beating No. 9 Holy Cross twice in overtime last weekend. The Tigers' Simon Lambert leads the league with 51 points, and Matt Smith leads the AHA with 27 goals.

"We're going to have to be at our best (today)," Air Force all- conference defenseman Greg Flynn said. "They have some really skilled players on defense who have been scoring a lot of points, and we need to be ready for that."

Over the past two seasons, the Falcons (19-11-6) have allowed the fewest shots on goal of any team in the nation and will depend on defensive consistency.

"They're not going to get a pile of shots in on us," Serratore said. "But we have to make sure about the quality of shots we're allowing. I don't care how many shots from the outside they take, but we can't let them set up and get a good one in."

Air Force goaltender Andrew Volkening has also been improving in the second part of the season. Volkening has posted an 8-1-2 record in his past 11 games and is second in the league in goals-against average.

"We're not a team of stars, but we like our depth," Serratore said. "The one guy who has been our anchor though is Andrew Volkening. Down the stretch, he's been our MVP."

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