Falcons travel to AIC for league series
10/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Oct. 22, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
This Week Air Force (4-0-0 overall and 2-0-0 in the AHA) returns to Atlantic Hockey Association action with a two-game series at American International College (AIC), Friday-Saturday, Oct. 24-25, at 7:05 p.m. ET each night at the Olympia Ice Center.
Radio/Internet Both games will be broadcast live in Colorado Springs on KCSF AM 1300 and on the internet at www.GoAirForceFalcons.com. The pregame show begins at 6:45 p.m. ET. Jay Ritchie will call the play-by-play while Dave Toller will provide the analysis. The games will also be video streamed live with audio by the B2 Network on a subscription basis. For more information, please go to the Atlantic Hockey Association web-site at AtlanticHockeyOnline.com. No television.
Last Week Air Force swept a two-game home series with Bemidji State, 6-2 and 6-0 AIC lost two games at the Maverick Stampede Tournament in Omaha, Neb. by identical 4-1 scores to Neb.-Omaha and Quinnipiac.
Rankings Air Force was again among those receiving votes in the USCHO/CBS College Sports poll (No. 22) and the USA Today/USA Hockey magazine (No. 18) polls. AFA's highest national ranking ever in those polls came at the end of the 2007-08 season at No. 20 in the USCHO/CBS College Sports and No. 16 in the USA Today/USA Hockey magazine poll.
The Coaches Frank Serratore (Bemidji State, 1982) is in his 12th season as the head coach of Air Force. He has led the Falcons to back-to-back conference championships and NCAA Tournament berths. Serratore is the winningest coach in the history of Air Force hockey with a record of 174-201-30 at AFA and a career mark of 223-293-39 in his 16th year. Gary Wright (Vermont, 1976) is in his 25th season as the head coach at AIC with a 253-409-49 overall and school record.
Scouting the Opponents. AIC (Springfield, Mass.) is 0-2 overall this season. This weekend is the Yellow Jackets' first league games of the year. AIC lost two games at the Maverick Stampede in Omaha, Neb., by identical 4-1 scores to Neb.-Omaha and Quinnipiac. The Yellow Jackets were picked 10th in the AHA by the league's coaches. Last season, AIC finished 10th in the AHA with an 8-17-3 league record and was 8-23-5 overall. AIC returns 16 of the 25 lettermen from last season's team. Junior Chris Campanale and sophomore Mike Little scored the team's goals last weekend. Junior Mike McMillan is the team's top returning scorer with 24 points (8-16-24) last season.
4-0 First Time Since ... Air Force is 4-0 for just the fourth time in school history and the first time since the 1975-76 season. The Falcons also opened the season 4-0 in 1970-71 and 1971-72. In both the 1975-76 and 1970-71 seasons, the Falcons lost game number five. The 1971-72 team opened with a school-record 8-0 start en route to a school-record 25 victories. The 4-0 start this season marks the best start in school history vs. Division I teams.
Colorado - HockeyState College hockey has never been better in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Colorado has three college hockey programs (Air Force, Colorado College and Denver) and all three made the NCAA Tournament last season. This season, all three are undefeated as Air Force and Colorado College are both 4-0 while Denver is 3-0. There are just seven Division I hockey teams in the nation to have at least one win with no losses or ties and three of them are on the Front Range (Neb.-Omaha, Colgate, New Hampshire and Minnesota are the others). The college hockey fans in the Centennial State are well aware as, last weekend, all three were at home on the same nights and all had near-sellout crowds. Colorado College averaged more than 6,400 in two games while Denver averaged 6,050 and Air Force averaged 2,170. That means more than 14,000 fans were in college hockey arenas each night in Colorado last weekend.
The FLO Line The Falcons' line of Frider, Lamoureux and Olson has dominated this season. Air Force has scored 20 goals in the four games and the FLO line has scored 10 of them. Lamoureux leads the nation with 10 points and is tied for the national lead with five goals. He also leads the nation with three power-play goals. Olson is tied for the national lead with eight assists and is tied for second in the nation with nine points. Frider is tied for third in the nation in goals with four and tied for 16th in the nation with seven points. The trio ranks 1-2-3 in the league in scoring.
Series with AIC Air Force holds a 15-0-1 advantage in the series with AIC. The teams have met eight times as AHA conference foes and the Falcons are 7-0-1 vs. the Yellow Jackets. AFA's only blemish in the series was a 2-2 overtime tie last season at the Academy.
Last Meetings vs. AIC Air Force earned seven of the eight points in the series last season. AFA swept AIC, 6-3 and 4-2, last season in Springfield, Nov. 30-Dec. 1. In the first game, AFA broke a 2-2 tie with three second period goals. Brent Olson and Matt Fairchild each scored two goals. Ian Harper started the game, the only game that Andrew Volkening did not start all season. Harper allowed two goals on four shots as Volkening came on to play the final 40 minutes and stopped 10 of 11 shots. In the second game, AFA scored three goals in the first period and held on for a 4-2 win. Four different Falcons scored and Volkening made 18 saves. AFA out-shot AIC, 72-35, in the series. The teams met Feb. 29-March 1 at the Academy. The teams skated to a 2-2 overtime tie on Friday. AFA trailed 2-1 in the second period when Josh Frider scored on the power play to tie the game. The next day, Air Force beat AIC, 5-0. AFA scored four in the first as five different Falcons scored. AFA out-shot AIC, 72-33, in the series. Olson scored four goals vs. AIC last season while Fairchild had three.
