Air Force Academy

Jan. 9, 2007

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This Week: Air Force (11-8-3, 8-3-3 AHA) travels to Worcester, Mass., for a two-game conference series with Holy Cross (8-11-2, 7-8-2). The Falcons and Crusaders play Friday-Saturday, Jan. 12-13, at the Hart Center. Friday's game will begin at 7:30 while Saturday's faceoff is at 7:00.

Radio/Television/Internet: Both games can be heard on the internet at www.GoAirForceFalcons.com and in Colorado Springs on ESPN 1300 AM The Sports Animal. Jay Ritchie, in his 10th season of Air Force hockey and 19th season of Falcon athletics, will do the play-by-play. Dave Toller will do the color. The pregame show begins at 4:45 p.m. MST each day.

Scouting the Opponents: Holy Cross (Worcester, Mass.) is 8-11-2 overall this season and 7-8-2 and in fifth place in Atlantic Hockey with 16 points, just three behind Air Force. The Crusaders split two games at Bentley last week, winning 7-4 in the first game and losing 3-2 on Saturday. The win was the team's first since Nov. 21. Holy Cross is 1-6-2 in the last nine games. Senior James Sixsmith leads the team with 23 assists and 33 points. Junior Dale Reinhardt leads the Crusaders with 11 goals. Freshman Ian Dams is the top goalie with a .886 saves percentage and a 3.17 goals-against average.

Ehn Leading the Nation: Junior center Eric Ehn is leading the nation in points (40) and points per game (1.82). He is second in the nation in goals scored (19) and goals per game (0.86). Ehn led the nation in goals from Oct. 21-Dec. 8. He moved into the national lead in points on Nov. 20 and held that spot until Dec. 3.He has led the nation in points since Dec. 8. Ehn has scored in 18 of the 22 games this season and has 10 multiple-point games and six multiple-goal games.

Series Record: Holy Cross and Air Force have played 15 times and the Falcons hold a 9-4-2 lead in the series that began in 1993. AFA is 3-2-1 in Worcester, 1-0 on neutral ice and 5-2-1 at the Academy. The teams have never played as conference opponents. Holy Cross is 3-1-1 in the last five games vs. Air Force. Complete series results are on page four of this release.

Last Meeting: Holy Cross and Air Force last met in a two-game, non-conference series in 2004 in Worcester. Holy Cross came from behind to force a 2-2 overtime tie in the first game. The Crusaders then beat the Falcons, 5-2, in game two.

The Coaches: Air Force coach Frank Serratore (Bemidji State, 1982) is in his 10th season at Air Force and his 14th as a collegiate head coach. He has a 141-181-22 record at AFA and an overall mark of 190-273-31. Holy Cross coach Paul Pearl is in his 12th season at the school. He has a school and overall record of 189-159-33.

Streaking: The Falcons were just 1-3 in the first two weeks of the season, but are now 8-3-3 in the last 14 games. All three losses have come on the road, with one of them at 10th-ranked Denver. AFA is 4-1-2 in the last seven games dating back to Nov. 26.

Ehn Ties AFA's Conference Record: Eric Ehn has 25 points in Atlantic Hockey games to tie the Air Force record for points in a conference season. Ehn set the school record last season with 25 points in 20 CHA games. He has 25 points (11-14-25) in 14 games, just halfway through the Atlantic Hockey schedule.

Nearing 20 G's: Air Force still has 14 games left on the schedule, but Eric Ehn is nearing the 20-goal mark. His 19 goals are already the most since Andy Berg had 22 in 2003. In the last 11 years, the Falcons have had a 20-goal scorer just four times. Justin Kieffer had 23 goals in 1996-97 and 24 in 1998-99. Derek Olson had 21 goals in 2001-02 and Berg had 22 goals in 2002-03. The school record for goals in a season was set by Chuck Delich with 44 in 1975-76. Since 1980, just two players have had 25 or more goals. Mark Manney had 27 in 1981-82 and Frank Daldine had 28 in 1984-85.

Closing in on 100: Both Eric Ehn and Andrew Ramsey are closing in on 100 career points. Ehn has 97 career points in 90 games while Ramsey has 91 points in 122 games. In the history of Falcon hockey, just 37 players have had 100 or more career points. The most recent player to crack the list is 2003 graduate Andy Berg who had 142 points in 140 games. Chuck Delich holds the career record with 279 points in 109 games.

Matching the Win Total: In 22 games this season, Air Force has matched its entire win total from last season. AFA was 11-20-1 last season. The Falcons played just 32 games as the team had three exhibition games. This season, AFA hit win number 11 in game 22.

Win Number 190: The win over Mercyhurst on Jan. 6 was Frank Serratore's 190th of his career. He needs just 10 to reach the 200-win plateau for his career. In his 10th season with the Falcons, Serratore has 141 wins at AFA.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y: For just the second time this season, the Falcons won game two of a series and earned a conference sweep. The Falcons swept AIC, Nov. 17-19. However, entering the Mercyhurst series, AFA had won six times in the first game of a series, but just once in game two. AFA got the monkey off its back with a 3-1 win in game two at Mercyhurst.

First Road Sweep of Season: Air Force's sweep at Mercyhurst, Jan. 5-6, was the Falcons' first road sweep of the season. It was the first road sweep since the Falcons swept at Wayne State to end the 2005-06 season in Detroit.

Last Week: Air Force swept a two-game conference series from Mercyhurst in Erie, Penn. AFA came from behind for a 5-3 win on Friday with three goals in the final 10 minutes. The Falcons built a 3-0 lead in game two and held on for a 3-1 win.