Air Force Academy

March 16, 2010

Complete Release in PDF Format

The Playoffs Third-seeded Air Force (16-14-6) faces second-seeded Sacred Heart (20-12-4) on Friday, March 19, at 7:35 p.m. ET (5:35 p.m. MT) in the AHA semifinals at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y. In the other semifinal, No. 1 seed RIT faces No. 4 seed Canisius, Friday at 4:05 p.m. ET The winners advances to the championship game on Saturday, March 20, at 7:05 p.m. ET (5:05 p.m. MT)

Radio/Internet/Television All games will be broadcast in Colorado Springs on The Sports Animal AM 1300 and on the internet at GoAirForceFalcons.com Pregame show is 30 minutes before faceoff each night Both games will be video streamed with audio by the B2 Network on a subscription basis. For more information, please go to AtlanticHockeyOnline.com

Last Week in the AHA All four series ended in two games with three home teams advancing No 1 RIT swept No. 9 UConn, 4-3 in overtime and 4-1, in Rochester, N.Y. No. 2 Sacred Heart swept No. 7 Holy Cross, 4-0 and 4-3 in overtime, in Milford, Conn. No. 3 Air Force swept No. 6 Army, 3-0 and 4-2 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado No. 5 Canisius swept No. 4 Mercyhurst, 5-1 and 5-4 in double overtime in Erie, Penn.

What's at Stake The winner of the AHA Tournament gets the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament and will be one of 16 teams to play in one of four NCAA Regionals. The four regional sites are: Northeast Regional: DCU Center, Worcester, Mass. (March 27-28); East Regional: Times Union Center, Albany, N.Y. (March 26-27) ; West Regional: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minn. (March 26-27) ; Midwest Regional: Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Ind. (March 27-28). The NCAA Frozen Four will be played at Ford Field, Detroit, April 8 and 10.

Earlier this Season vs. Sacred Heart Air Force and Sacred Heart have played four times this season with each team sweeping on home ice In January in Milford, Conn., Sacred Heart beat Air Force, 4-1 and 5-1 In February at the Academy, Air Force beat Sacred Heart, 6-3 and 8-1 At Sacred Heart, SHU outshot Air Force, 67-65, in the series and Pioneer freshman Steven Legatto made 63 saves SHU's top line of Nick Johnson, Dave Jarman and Patrick Knowlton scored five goals in the series In the first game at Air Force, the Falcons scored five second-period goals to erase a 1-0 Pioneer lead. Freshman John Kruse scored two of them. In the second game, AFA scored three in the first period and four in the second. Blake Page scored two short-handed goals in the game . Volkening stopped 46 of the 50 shots he faced in the series

AFA in the AHA Playoffs Air Force joined Atlantic Hockey for the 2006-07 season and has won three straight tournament championships The Falcons also won the 2008-09 regular season title AFA is 13-1 all-time in the AHA playoffs The only loss came last season, a 4-1 loss to Sacred Heart in game two of the quarterfinals. AFA won the series the next night