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Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

Fairchild is skating extremely well. Some of you may have not have known, but he did play in the first game or two due to an injury...he's coming back strong. I watched him last week and he was incredible.

Hopefull we can get everyone on the same sheet of music and get the chemistry with our lines. Defense is still playing soft (Volkening is making up for that right now)...and we have to find more ways to score.

Either way, the future looks bright!
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

Matt Fairchild was the best player on the ice this weekend, hands down. He had so many great plays and also scored two of the Falcons' 3 goals on the weekend. Paul Weisgarber was terrific on the PK, not only scoring a SHG tonight, but also creating several good short handed chances.

I feel good about 3 points on the road. Holy Cross played very good hockey this weekend and probably feels that they deserved better than the single point they got. Air Force is battling through some of those "growing pains" but they are playing hard and they are keeping themselves in games. They have some new faces and some guys in new roles, so it takes time to adjust. Trust me: this team will be fine this year. Especially with Volkening in net, who we all know can steal some wins even if the team is not on top of their game.
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

I'm getting cautiously optimistic. So far, Air Force has series wins against the #2, 4 and 5 teams in the conference, and a tie against #3. They've done well against the top half of the conference. If they can continue this against the teams a little further down in the standings, this could be another great season.
Still, I would really like to see the offense get going. Last year we were averaging almost 4 goals/game at this point. Then again, if Volks keeps playing like he is, one goal might be enough most nights!
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

Yeah, the offense really hasn't clicked yet, and the PP is not nearly the threat that it was last year. I don't know if this has been the norm to this point, but I noticed in the Holy Cross series that they moved the puck around the perimeter a ton on the PP, but they weren't doing a great job of making the defense move around and therefore were not able to get the puck in closer very often.
It's a work in progress, but I'm with you about the cautious optimism. The team is improving from week to week and I believe this will be another strong year. Living up to last year is a lot to ask, so I wasn't expecting that, but they will be good and they will be fun to watch.
Depending on what else I have going on, I may try to get down to Storrs for one of the games against UConn next weekend.
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

Wow. Air Force is getting no love from the pollsters this year. Getting swept by Bemidji suddenly doesn't look so bad, considering they are now #5 in the country (and two voters think they are #1). Air Force has a home sweep over #22 RIT, who haven't beaten anyone out of conference. I guess the unforgivable sin was the home sweep to UAH. Only other loss was at Canisius.

Oh, well. Can't control the polls. Keep winning on the ice and maybe the voters will take notice.
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

Does anyone watch the video feed online? Any thoughts/suggestions/etc? Also, for those who attend the games, anything you'd like to see done differently on the big video board? Thanks
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

AFHockeyFan said:
Wow. Air Force is getting no love from the pollsters this year. Getting swept by Bemidji suddenly doesn't look so bad, considering they are now #5 in the country (and two voters think they are #1). Air Force has a home sweep over #22 RIT, who haven't beaten anyone out of conference. I guess the unforgivable sin was the home sweep to UAH. Only other loss was at Canisius.
Click to expand...

...4 OT games and 3 Ties aren't helping Air Force in the polls either. RIT is getting a look because of the winning streak, but probably doesn't deserve the attention it is getting yet. Consider this, RIT picked up a point in this week's poll and they were idle over the weekend.
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

Nice weekend for the Falcons. After a lethargic start Friday, they came alive in the 3rd. Saturday was wire-to-wire domination. As predicted, the sweep got Air Force 2 votes in the polls, ranking them 28th. RIT is 23rd, Bemidji moved up to 4th.

Perhaps the best development was Jacques Lamoureux's return to the scoring sheet. He moved from 37th to 10th in the nation in scoring with a six-point (3-3) weekend. Should be (edit: is) the AHA player of the week. I'll try to ignore all the comments about padding stats against AIC.

For the video board, the weekly coach's show and Haji's segment are great pre-game and during intermissions. The pre-lineup feature is great, with the all the video links from the past. Please don't break up the Fairchild-to-Lamoureux goal against Michigan. It's a great play that deserves to be run straight through. The AHA, WCHA and NHL scores are a great addition, too.
 
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Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

AFHockeyFan said:
For the video board, the weekly coach's show and Haji's segment are great pre-game and during intermissions. The pre-lineup feature is great, with the all the video links from the past. Please don't break up the Fairchild-to-Lamoureux goal against Michigan. It's a great play that deserves to be run straight through. The AHA, WCHA and NHL scores are a great addition, too.
Click to expand...

Does anyone know if the pre-game video is posted anywhere?
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

AFHockeyFan said:
For the video board, the weekly coach's show and Haji's segment are great pre-game and during intermissions. The pre-lineup feature is great, with the all the video links from the past. Please don't break up the Fairchild-to-Lamoureux goal against Michigan. It's a great play that deserves to be run straight through. The AHA, WCHA and NHL scores are a great addition, too.
Click to expand...

agree.
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

Tough weekend for the Falcons. They played two good periods Friday and salvaged a tie, and were outplayed most of Saturday. Not to make excuses, but hopefully, there won't be a series during Finals next season. For the second year in a row, the team goes into the holiday break with a bad taste in their mouths. Should be some good motivation.

The USCHO recap of the game was pretty fanciful. I was on the goal line Saturday in front of the Mercyhurst net and never saw a punch thrown. Lamoureux did take a couple of cheap shots and was right to take exception. The rest was just a bunch of skating in circles and pillow talk.
http://www.uscho.com/recaps/20092010/m/12/12/merc-afa.php

Mercyhurst is easily the most complete team to skate in the CIA so far this year (well, except for the Avs). They have several scorers up front, decent defense, and when that fails, Zapolski is the real deal between the pipes. He made an amazing glove save on a slapper from the point (Mathis or Kirby?) in the 3rd Saturday, and was solid throughout. If the Falcons don't right the ship, it could be their turn. I can't see how they were swept by Western Michigan, Canisius and RIT.

I hate to do this, but sometimes it's interesting to check up on "the ones that got away." Chris Hepp has played in all 18 games on D for a St. Cloud team that is in 5th place in the WCHA (ahead of UND and Minny). David Martinson leads Gustavus Adolphus with 13 goals in 11 games, and is averging 2.67 points/game, tops in the MIAC. While it would be nice to have those two guys this year, it was their decision to leave. If nothing else, it validates the quality of Air Force's recruiting.

Hope the guys enjoy the break, stay in shape and stay hungry!
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

AF, I too was at both games Friday and Saturday. You are right no punches were thrown but the cross check to the face that Lamareaux did to Mercyhuyrst #3 with 2 seconds to go in the game was un called for. I don't want to hear it had to do with frustration. It was a good game and a wild last 4 minutes with the AF goalie pulled. From my perspective Lamareaux should ge gone for at least 1 game if not more. If you watched the reply as much as it was shown you know you can not argue about that. It will be interesting to see what happens after AHA commisioner and NCAA reviews the tape. It was a good weekend to watch the games, but what an idiot to pull that stunt!
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

Time to rescue this thread from the oblivion of page 7.

It's been an up and down start to the second half of the season, with a 4-4-1 record. Highlights include a sweep at Bentley, lows include a home loss to Holy Cross and a home tie with UConn. With five league games left (@ Army, 2 @ RIT, 2 with Sacred Heart at home), the Falcons have 29 points and are in second place in the standings, but all of the teams atop the standings have anywhere from two to four games in hand, which could make for some interesting scoreboard-watching over the next few weeks.

A recurring theme in Coach Serratore's post-game comments has been getting "outworked," not competing for the full 60 (or 65) minutes, and lacking the "will" to win. Aside from issues of motivation, on the ice it seems the team has to work very hard to score, but has a tendancy to give the opposition opportunities without really earning them. Playing from behind hasn't helped either. Statistically, the top line (Fairchild (17 pts)-Lamoureux(33)-Burnett(25)) has scored fairly consistently, but, except for Hajner (17), there has been a significant fall-off after that, with only 2 other forwards (both freshmen) having double-digit points. Volkening's numbers are stil solid .913 save %, 2.57 GAA) but it's been clear he hasn't been getting the support he had in years past. Several times he's had to make huge saves on breakaways just to keep Air Force in games.

My question: Is it still possible for this team to "flip the switch" as we've seen in year's past, and make a February-March run that ends in the NCAA tournament? Surely a win next week over a #11 CC or #3 Denver (or both) would provide a confidence boost, but with only 4 league games in February, is there enough time to generate the momentum needed to carry them through the AHA Tournament and into the NCAAs? This fan certainly hopes so, but would really like to see the 2nd-4th lines get going, and the young defenders tighten up their play in the zone and take better care of the puck in transition.

I think the team comes out hungry tonight and refuses to let Army sweep them again. The memory of the bus and plane ride home from the trip two years ago should be plenty of motivation.

As always, GO FALCONS!!!
 
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Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

If I'm reading the AHA tiebreakers correctly, Air Force should have clinched home ice for the second round of the playoffs tonight. With the win, Air Force has 32 points to Canisius' 30, and holds the tiebreaker by virtue of the +1 goal differential in the series in Buffalo. It looks like those two will get to settle it on the ice, though, unless Mercyhurst trips against UConn tomorrow night.

The Falcons scored more goals in the second period tonight (5) than the last two weekends put together.
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

AFHockeyFan said:
If I'm reading the AHA tiebreakers correctly, Air Force should have clinched home ice for the second round of the playoffs tonight.
Click to expand...

You're correct, they have clinched. I don't think home ice means more for any other AHA team than it does for Air Force. Travel, altitude, and packed crowds. That's a bad situation for any visiting team in the playoffs.
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

RITShockSquad said:
I don't think home ice means more for any other AHA team than it does for Air Force. Travel, altitude, and packed crowds.
Click to expand...

Last time Canisius was here, they swept the best team in Air Force history 5-4 and 4-2. I'm not counting any chickens.

And the crowd only comes out when there are freebies (free food, deeply discounted tickets, promotions like tonight when you can use any unused ticket from the season for admission, etc.) They won't show up when they have to pay full price for an AHA playoff series, as evidenced by the 1,640 (66% of capacity) they averaged last year against Sacred Heart. The story from last night's game claims " Tickets are on sale now at www.GoAirForceFalcons.com" but they actually aren't, probably to avoid sticker shock.
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

AFHockeyFan said:
And the crowd only comes out when there are freebies (free food, deeply discounted tickets, promotions like tonight when you can use any unused ticket from the season for admission, etc.) They won't show up when they have to pay full price for an AHA playoff series, as evidenced by the 1,640 (66% of capacity) they averaged last year against Sacred Heart. The story from last night's game claims " Tickets are on sale now at www.GoAirForceFalcons.com" but they actually aren't, probably to avoid sticker shock.
Click to expand...

Wow, I'm pretty surprised to hear that. The attendance numbers on the regular season box scores are impressive, but that makes a lot of sense. I know Army has had attendance issues for the last few playoff games they hosted. It's hard for them to bring in all the groups they normally do for the regular season. I didn't know freebies were a big draw for the Falcons.
 
Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

RITShockSquad said:
I didn't know freebies were a big draw for the Falcons.
Click to expand...

It's something different every weekend. $2 military appreciation (almost everyone is military); $5 fan appreciation; bring a canned good, get a free ticket; bring a toy for Christmas, get a free ticket. They've done a great job of getting the numbers up, but it's definitely been quantity over quality. Most of the fans don't care that much (or know that much about) about hockey--they're just looking for a decent evening of family-friendly cheap entertainment or don't want to drive all the way across town and pay for parking at the World Arena. I think the size of the true Falcon fan base is evidenced by the 4 pages of posts we've accumulated this season, compared to the 50+ for RIT.

It's a small school (4,000 enrollment), most of the alumni aren't from the local area, and are scattered across the nation/world. There's another slightly more successful D-1 program in town (CC hosted UND last night) and another even more successful one (DU) less than 50 miles away. It's a tough draw, and I guess getting anyone to show up is a credit.

Maybe I'm just bitter that last night my five tickets were supposed to have "$5 of stored value" for purchases at the concession stand (according to the salesperson) but when I loaded up with all my "free" goodies and got to the end of the line, somehow my tickets weren't the ones with stored value, so I got stuck paying for stuff I wouldn't have gotten anyway. When I complained, the concession lady told me that if I didn't like it, I could go to the high school game! Considering that the local team is playing for a state championship today, next season, I might!

With responses like that, they're definitely not looking to build any kind of fanbase loyalty (and they haven't). Just trying to get a few butts in the seats to make up for the basketball team's miserable drawing since Bzdelik left.
 
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Re: Air Force Hockey 2009-2010 Season Thread

Just to prove myself wrong, I just bought tickets for one of the playoff games. $52 for a family of five, but at least I got reserved seats (evidently some of the season-ticket holders didn't want to shell out for the playoff tickets, so their seats became available!)

It would be great to sell out the games and have some strong support for what will be a tough series.

GO FALCONS!!!!!
 
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