The 2017 calendar year was a dynamic one for the Air Force hockey program, starting almost from the first day. After careful consideration and consultation with others around the team, The Flight Path looks back at seven events or trends that helped define the just completed year for the Falcons.

No. 7 – Golden hand

Former Falcons director of hockey Steve Miller was part of the coaching staff that guided USA Hockey’s entry in the 2017 World Junior Championships to their first gold medal in four years and only fourth overall, beating Canada twice on Canadian soil in the process in early January. Miller assisted his longtime friend and colleague Bob Motzko (St. Cloud State’s coach), himself a former associate coach under Air Force coach Frank Serratore at Denver. The Americans twice beat Canada and Russia during the tournament to win the gold, a feat Serratore later said might rank among USA Hockey’s top five all-time best performances.

Quotable

Miller on the U.S. team: “From Day 1 you could sense there was a camaraderie with that group of players. When we convened in Buffalo (before the tournament) it was an easy group to coach. They bought in, they played for each other and we had a great support staff. They helped guys get ready and limit the distractions.”

No. 6 – Terrific trio

Three Falcons earned all-Atlantic Hockey Conference honors after one of the program’s most successful seasons out of many good ones in the league. Defenseman Phil Boje was a first-team pick, right wing Jordan Himley made the second team and goaltender Shane Starrett was tabbed for the third team.

The all-conference honor was the first for Boje, who had 30 points (nine goals). Fifteen of his points came in conference play. The 30 points were second most among AHC defenseman. Boje finished 13th nationally in blocked shots (83) and his 69 blocks were the third most in AHC play.

Himley also earned his first all-conference honor after scoring 14 of his 22 goals in AHC play. The 14 were the second most in the conference. He led the Falcons with 37 points and his 22 goals were tied for 10th nationally.

Starrett was honored by AHC for the second season in a row. He was a first-team pick as well as an all-rookie selection in 2015-16. In AHC play, Starrett tied for third in goals-against average (1.90) and was fourth in saves percentage (.924). His .740 winning percentage was second in the league. He also was a top-10 finalist for the Mike Richter Award, given to NCAA hockey’s top goaltender. Overall, Starrett was 26-6-4 with a .925 save percentage (12th nationally) and a 1.99 goal-against average (fifth nationally).

No. 5 – Academic leaders

Air Force’s achievements weren’t limited to the ice. The Falcons also excelled in the classroom, having 13 players named All-American scholars by American Hockey Coaches Association, tied for second most in the nation for the 2016-17 season.

The Falcons who were honored included senior Dylan Abood, senior Erik Baskin, senior Phil Boje, junior Evan Feno, junior Kyle Haak, senior Jordan Himley, Johnny Hrabovsky (graduated),  junior Matt Koch, senior Jonathan Kopacka, senior Ben Kucera, senior Tyler Ledford, sophomore Pierce Pluemer and junior Matt Serratore.

In addition, Haak was selected to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) academic All-American third team. Haak majors in physics with a minor in nuclear weapons and strategy with a 3.95 grade-point average and led the academy’s sophomore class academically.

Quotable

Frank Serratore on Haak, “He’s brilliant in the classroom. I have been doing this for a long time and I can tell you there is zero correlation between being excellent in the classroom and having good hockey sense.

“But with Kyle, he has (both). He’s a thinker on the ice. (Before a game) some guys never ask questions. Some guys are afraid to ask questions. He asks really good questions. He is dialed in.”

No. 4 – Numbers game

The numbers don’t lie, the Falcons wrapped up one of the best seasons in program history in 2017. Their 27 wins were one off the program record, and the pollsters agreed that Air Force belonged among the nation’s top teams. The Falcons finished last season 11th in the USA Hockey / USA Today poll and 12th in the USCHO.com poll – both were high-water marks for the program. They started the 2017-18 season ranked 17th.

No. 3 – Call of the pros

The Falcons’ successful 2016-17 came with an unexpected cost – sophomore goaltender Shane Starrett. Starrett was very good all season and superlative during the postseason, at times carrying the Falcons in the Atlantic Hockey and NCAA tournaments, and NHL teams took note.

Shortly after the Falcons’ season concluded, Starrett announced, after much deliberation, that he was signing an entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers. He was a two-time winner of the Chuck Delich Award as the Falcons’ MVP.

Quotable

Starrett: “I had no idea this could actually possibly happen. … My family advisor told me there were some teams interested in me. A week goes by and he tells me these teams might want to make an offer, would you take it? Talking to our coaches, we thought it was (something to consider). You never know when it could happen again.”

Frank Serratore, ““It’s tough losing Shane. Shane was the cornerstone of our team. We have a good team but it’s tough when you lose the cornerstone. … We don’t get hit with this type of thing very often, most other schools do, so now we know what it feels like.”

No. 2 – Atlantic Hockey champions

There were a lot of factors in the Falcons’ run to their first Atlantic Hockey Conference playoff championship since 2012, but none was a big as goaltender Shane Starrett. In four AHC playoff games (two quarterfinals, the semifinal and final) he allowed two goals … total. Another was incredible scoring balance as the Falcons had three lines capable of doing serious damage. And the third was an unbelievable penalty kill. Air Force killed 49 of 52 penalties (94 percent) going into the NCAA Tournament and moved into the lead nationally in that category.

The run to the playoff title, which earned Air Force its NCAA berth, also demonstrated the Falcons’ resiliency. Faced with an opportunity to win the conference regular-season title, they dropped a 3-2 decision at home to Sacred Heart on the final day of the season. No matter, after sweeping Bentley (4-0 and 2-1) in a quarterfinal at Cadet Arena, the Falcons headed to Rochester, N.Y., and edged Army West Point, 1-0, and Robert Morris, 2-1) to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

Quotable

Frank Serratore, “”There was nothing easy about this. We had a good run winning five of six a few years back. This group has become like my family since all my kids are out of the house. That makes this one really special. We knew we would get back to this point. It was part of our business plan. But this happened one year early. We only have three seniors, but what an amazing group we have. They found a way to get it done. We have only scored five goals the last three games and won all three. We did it with a defense, special teams and a great group of players and coaches in our program.”

No. 1 – One step from Frozen Four

The Falcons drew Western Michigan in the first round of the NCAAs, an intriguing matchup on a couple of levels. First, the Falcons had tied and then lost to the Broncos during an early-season non-conference matchup. Second, coach Frank Serratore had started his NCAA playing career in Kalamazoo, Mich.

After riding defense throughout the AHC tournament, the Falcons found themselves in a shootout with the No. 8 Broncos and held on for a 5-4 win. Kyle Haak had two goals, Jordan Himley had a goal and two assists and the defense contributed four points.

The NCAA Tournament win was just the second in program history and set up a regional final matchup against No. 2 Harvard. When the Crimson jumped to a 3-0 lead it appeared that was that, but the Falcons again proved quit isn’t in the academy lexicon.

Brady Tomlak and Himley scored goals off rebounds and put the squeeze on Harvard, which held on for a 3-2 victory.

Defenseman Phil Boje and Haak were selected to the all-regional team.

Quotable

Serratore, ““That was a heckuva college hockey game. Harvard has a great hockey team, but the boys in blue were pretty good too. We took their best punch in the second period and it didn’t look good for a while. All season we have been able to come back, but not tonight.”

It was also a heckuva of a 2017 for the Falcons.

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Copyright First Line Editorial 2017-18