The Air Force Falcons men's ice hockey team is a

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) Division I

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the go ...

program that represents the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

. The Falcons are a member of

Atlantic Hockey America Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) is a college ice hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. The conference was formed in 2023 by the merger of ...

. They play at the Cadet Ice Arena in

El Paso County, Colorado El Paso County is the List of counties in Colorado, most populous county in the U.S state of Colorado. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 730,395, surpassing the city and county of Denver. The county seat is ...

, north of

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

History

Independent

Air Force Academy's ice hockey program began as a club team in 1966, led by former

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

head coach and six-time national champion Vic Heyliger. The program grew swiftly and posted a winning record by its third season. In their fourth season, the team posted an impressive 25-6 mark and had the nation's leading scorer on the roster, Dave Skalko. When Heyliger retired in 1974, turning the team over to John Matchefts, the success continued with two more 20+ win seasons in three years. By the time the 1980 rolled around, however, the team's on-ice results began to flag and after a pair of disappointing, single-digit-win seasons Matchefts pushed his team to a .500-record before turning control over to the program's all-time leading scorer. Chuck Delich led the program for the 12 seasons, posting moderate results for most of his tenure, but as the 20th century drew to a close, the Falcons' days as a plucky Independent were numbered.

CHA

In 1997, former

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head coach Frank Serratore was hired to replace Delich and recorded two 15-win seasons before everything changed for the Falcons. In 1999, Air Force became a founding member of the CHA, joining with the other service academy

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

and five other newly-minted Division I teams. Despite the other programs having little history of success, Air Force was unable to make much headway in the conference, with the best finish being 4th out of 7 teams in their inaugural year. Army left the conference after only one year, leaving the conference with only six programs, and the Falcons found themselves as one of the worst. Air Force finished in 5th- or 6th-place for four consecutive seasons and threw in a pair of 4th-place marks for good measure. Despite their regular season woes, the Falcons did achieve some success in the CHA tournament, reaching the semifinals three times despite being an underdog. By 2006, however, it became apparent that the men's side of CHA (which had added a women's division in 2002) was in trouble. The Falcons left the CHA and were accepted into the Atlantic Hockey Association, rejoining Army in the same conference.

Atlantic Hockey Association

The change seemed to suit the Falcons, who posted their first winning season in 7 years. In the conference tournament, Air Force defeated Holy Cross 3-0 before stunning #1 seeded

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus () is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus Christ is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devotion to Christ is p ...

5-4 in overtime. In the championship match, the Falcons took on Army and routed the Black Knights 6-1 to win the program's first conference championship and receive their first bid into the NCAA tournament. Though they lost to

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

in the opening round, the success would continue for the next two years with two additional Atlantic Hockey tournament titles and culminated with a 28-win season in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

where they won their first regular season conference title and NCAA tournament game. After a middling season in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, the Falcons posted back-to-back conference championships but failed to escape the first round in either season. Air Force spent the mid-teens rebuilding their program, and it came to a head in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

with their sixth Atlantic Hockey crown. The Falcons played so well over the course of the season that there was some talk of them making the NCAA tournament even if they were to lose the Atlantic Hockey championship (an exceedingly rare occurrence for Atlantic Hockey Teams). Their second quarterfinal appearance was followed by another in 2018, where they were outplayed by eventual champion Minnesota–Duluth until the final period.

Atlantic Hockey America

After the 2023–24 season, the Atlantic Hockey Association merged with CHA, which had become a women-only league after the 2009–10 season. The two conferences had shared a commissioner and office staff since 2010. The new league was unveiled on April 30, 2024 as

, maintaining the Association's AHA initialism. All members of both predecessor leagues were brought into the new conference.

Season-by-season results

All-time coaching records

As of the end of the 2024–25 season

Awards and honors

U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

The following individuals have been inducted into the

United States Hockey Hall of Fame The United States Hockey Hall of Fame was established in 1973 with the goal of preserving the history of ice hockey in the United States while recognizing the extraordinary contributions of select players, coaches, administrators, officials an ...

. * Vic Heyliger (1974) * John Matchefts (1991)

NCAA

Scoring Champion

* Dave Skalko (1972)

Lowes' Senior CLASS Award

* Jacques Lamoureux (2011) * Kyle Haak (2019)

Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award

* Mike Phillipich (2009) * Dylan Abood (2018)

All-Americans

AHCA Second Team All-Americans * Eric Ehn (2007) * Jacques Lamoureux (2009) * Tim Kirby (2012)

College Hockey America College Hockey America (CHA) was a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference's final membership featured six women's teams, with three in Pennsylvani ...

Individual awards

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

* Marc Kielkucki (2001) Rookie of the Year * Andy Berg (2000) Student-Athlete of the Year * Scott Bradley (2001) * Brian Gornick (2002) * Mike Polidor (2004)

All-Conference teams

First Team All-CHA * Marc Kielkucki (2001) * Brian Gornick (2001) * Derek Olson (2002) Second Team All-CHA * Brian Gornick (2000) * Andy Berg (2001, 2003) * Brian Gineo (2005) * Michael Mayra (2006) * Eric Ehn (2006) All-CHA Rookie Team * Andy Berg (2000) * Joe Locallo (2001) * Zach Sikich (2002) * Matt Charbonneau (2005) * Eric Ehn (2005) * Michael Mayra (2006)

Atlantic Hockey Association

Individual awards

* Eric Ehn (2007) * Jacques Lamoureux (2009) Best Defensive Forward * Brady Tomlak (2020) * Austin Schwartz (2024) Best Defenseman * Gregg Flynn (2009) * Tim Kirby (2012) * Adam McKenzie (2013) * Ben Carey (2016) Scoring Champion * Eric Ehn (2007) * Jacques Lamoureux (2009) * Tim Kirby (2012) Regular Season Goaltending Award * Shane Starett (2016) * Billy Christopoulos (2018, 2019) Individual Sportsmanship Award * Jason Fabian (2014) * Ben Carey(2016)

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

* Frank Serratore (2016) Tournament MVP * Mike Phillipich (2007) * Brent Olson (2008) * Matt Fairchild (2009) * Jacques Lamoureux (2011) * Jason Torf (2012) * Shane Starrett (2017) * Billy Christopoulos (2018)

All-Conference teams

First Team All-Atlantic Hockey * 2006–07: Eric Ehn, F * 2008–09: Andrew Volkening, G; Greg Flynn, D; Jacques Lamoureux, F * 2009–10: Tim Kirby, D; Jacques Lamoureux, F * 2010–11: Scott Mathis, F * 2011–12: Tim Kirby, D; Scott Mathis, F; Kyle De Laurell, F * 2012–13: Adam McKenzie, D; Kyle De Laurell, F * 2015–16: Shane Starrett, G * 2016–17: Phil Boje, D * 2018–19: Billy Christopoulos, G * 2023–24: Will Gavin, F Second Team All-Atlantic Hockey * 2006–07: Andrew Ramsey, F * 2007–08: Greg Flynn, D * 2009–10: Andrew Volkening, G * 2010–11: Jacques Lamoureux, F * 2011–12:

John Kruse John Kruse (1921–2004) was an English film and television screenwriter, director and novelist. He is mostly remembered for his work on ITC classic TV series '' The Saint'', as well as several films of the franchise, and as the author of the ...

, F * 2013–14: Adam McKenzie, D; Cole Gunner, F * 2014–15: Cole Gunner, F * 2015–16: Johnny Hrabovsky, D * 2016–17: Jordan Himley, F * 2022–23: Luke Rowe, D * 2023–24: Chris Hedden, F Third Team All-Atlantic Hockey * 2007–08: Eric Ehn, F * 2010–11: Tim Kirby, D * 2016–17: Shane Starrett, G * 2019–20: Brandon Koch, D * 2021–22: Brandon Koch, D * 2023–24: Luke Rowe, D All-Atlantic Hockey Rookie Team * 2008–09: Scott Mathis, D * 2010–11: Jason Torf, G; Adam McKenzie, D * 2013–14: Chris Truehl, G * 2015–16: Shane Starrett, G; Matt Serratore, F * 2019–20: Brandon Koch, D * 2021–22: Mitchell Digby, D; Clayton Cosentino, F * 2022–23: Chris Hedden, D

Statistical Leaders

Career Scoring leaders

''GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes''

Career Goaltending Leaders

''GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% =

Save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...

; GAA =

Goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

'' Minimum 35 games Statistics current through the start of the 2017-18 season.

Current roster

As of August 13, 2024.

Falcons in the NHL

Goalie Shane Starrett signed an Entry Level Contract with the

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ...

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

on April 10, 2017. He is currently the only Air Force Falcons Men's Ice Hockey player to be in the

or respected affiliates.

References

External links

Air Force Falcons men's ice hockey
{{Atlantic Hockey America College ice hockey teams in Colorado NCAA Division I men's ice hockey teams 1968 establishments in Colorado Ice hockey clubs established in 1968