Air Force Academy

March 18, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

This Week No. 1 seed Air Force (25-10-2, 20-6-2 AHA) makes its third straight trip to the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y., for the Atlantic Hockey Association Final Four. Air Force will play the No. 4 seed Bentley Falcons (19-16-2, 15-11-2 AHA), Friday, March 20, at 4:05 p.m. ET. No. 2 seed RIT will face No. 3 seed Mercyhurst at 7:35 p.m. ET. The championship game will be Saturday, March 21, at 7:05 p.m. ET at the Blue Cross Arena.

Last Week in the AHA Air Force took two of three from No. 8 seed Sacred Heart, winning 4-3, losing 4-1 and winning 8-1. RIT took two of three from No. 7 seed Holy Cross, losing 5-3 and winning 6-4 and 9-5. Mercyhurst swept No. 6 Army, 6-2 and 5-0. Bentley took two of three from No. 5 Canisius, winning 6-3, losing 7-3 and then winning 4-2

Radio/Internet All games will be broadcast live in Colorado Springs on KCSF AM 1300 and on the internet at www.GoAirForceFalcons.com by clicking on this link http://goairforcefalcons.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/spec-rel/m-hockey-live-audio.html. The pregame show begins 20 minutes prior to faceoff. Jay Ritchie will call the play-by-play while Dave Toller will provide the analysis. Both 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.

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: Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, N.H. (Mar. 28-29); East Regional: Bridgeport Arena at Harbor Yard, Bridgeport, Conn. (Mar. 27-28); West Regional: Mariucci Arena, Minneapolis, Minn. (March 27-28); and Midwest Regional: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Mich. (Mar. 28-29). The Frozen Four will be at the MCI Center, Washington, D.C. (April 9 and 11).

Hot Teams Converge on Rochester Air Force is the No. 1 seed in the AHA Tournament, but is enters the tournament with the worst record in the second half of the season. Since Jan. 5, Air Force is 10-6-1, No. 2 seed RIT is 13-3-1, No. 3 seed Mercyhurst is 14-2-1 and No. 4 seed Bentley is 12-6-1.

Rankings Air Force is currently tied for 19th with Colorado College and Mass.-Lowell in the PairWise. RIT is No. 25 in the PairWise. Teams need to be in the top 14 to have a legitimate chance at an at-large bid to the NCAAs. AFA was among the others receiving votes in the USCHO/CBS College poll (No. 22).

Scouting The Bentley Falcons No. 4 Bentley (Waltham, Mass.) took two of three from Canisius and improved to 19-16-2 overall. The Falcons are 9-3-1 in the last 13 games and are 9-10-1 away from home (road/neutral) this season. Bentley has road wins over Rensselaer and Maine and took three points at Mercyhurst this season. Senior Dain Prewitt leads the team with 21 goals and 42 points. Jeff Gumaer and Dustin Cloutier each have 17 goals. Freshman Kyle Rank and sophomore Joe Calvi has split time in the nets. Rank has a 2.66 GAA, a .914 saves percentage and a 12-8-1 record. Calvi has a 3.31 GAA, a .888 saves percentage and a 7-8-0 record. Bentley is 16th in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 3.14 goals per game. The Falcons are one of the least penalized teams in the nation, taking just 14.8 minutes per game.

AFA in the AHA Tournament Air Force is 9-1 all-time in the AHA Tournament. Air Force suffered its first ever loss in the tournament, March 14 to Sacred Heart, 4-1, at the Cadet Ice Arena. The Falcons had won eight straight in the tournament. AFA is in its third year in the AHA and has advanced to Rochester every season. Air Force won the AHA championship in 2007 and 2008. Air Force is 4-0 at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester

Playing Best When it Counts Over the past three seasons, Air Force has played its best hockey late in the season. In 2006-07, the Falcons were below .500 in mid-February, but won six straight and claimed their first AHA Championship and NCAA berth. Last season, Air Force was 4-1-2 in February and 5-1 in March as the team captured its second straight AHA Championship and NCAA berth. This season, after a 1-1-2 December and a 3-4-1 January, the Falcons were 6-2 in February and are 2-1 in March. Over the last two years, Air Force is a combined 8-12-5 in December and January and a combined 17-5-2 in February and March.

School-Record 25 Division I Wins For the second straight year, Air Force set a new school record for Division I victories. The previous record of 21 was set last season. Air Force currently has 25 Division I wins this season. The Falcons clinched a 20-win season in back-to-back seasons for the first time in school history. The 20-win season is also just the fifth in school history as the 1971-72 team won 25, 1974-75 team won 23, the 2007-08 team won 21 and the 1976-77 team won 20. The 25 wins ties as the most in school history vs. all opponents.

Crunch Time From Dec. 6-Jan. 17, Air Force was 1-5-1 through a stretch of seven games. Every game was decided by one goal or less (not including empty-net goals) as the Falcons struggled to win close games. However, Air Force is vastly improved in close games recently. Beginning with the 3-2 win over Army on Jan. 24, nine of the last 14 games have been decided by one goal or less (not including empty-net goals). In those nine games, Air Force is 7-1-1.

Number 21 gets Number 31 Number 21 Jacques Lamoureux scored his 31st goal of the season against Sacred Heart, March 17. His 31 goals are the most in school history against Division I teams and tie as the most at Air Force in all games in the last 29 years. Lamoureux is just the fifth player in AFA history to score 30 or more goals, joining Chuck Delich, Bob Ross, Bob Sajevic, Mike Smellie and Steve Hall.