Air Force Academy

Oct. 12, 2010

Complete Release in PDF Format

Click here for the Air Force Hockey Show with Frank Serratore

This Week Air Force travels to Pittsburgh, Pa., for a single game against Atlantic Hockey Association  newcomer Robert Morris University. The Falcons and Colonials meet Sunday, Oct. 17 at 6:05 p.m. ET at the Consol Energy Center. The game is the AHA opener for Air Force. Robert Morris opened league play with two wins at AIC last weekend. 

Radio/Internet The game will be broadcast in Colorado Springs on The Sports Animal AM 1300 and on the internet at www.GoAirForceFalcons.com. Pregame show begins 30 minutes before faceoff. The game will be video streamed with audio by America One Television. Subscriptions can be purchased at www.americaone.com/college.

AFA-RMU Play at Penguins New Arena The Falcons and Colonials will play in the brand new Consol Energy Center, a building just completed this past summer. The game is part of the Robert Morris Hockey Showcase as the Colonial women's team plays Northeastern at Noon and the RMU club team plays Pitt at 3 p.m. The game will mark Air Force's fourth game in the last four seasons in an NHL facility. AFA fell to No. 2 Minnesota (4-3) in the 2007 NCAA West Regional at the Pepsi Center in Denver (home of the Avalanche). AFA played in the 2006 Lightning College Hockey Classic in the St. Petersburg Times Forum (the home of the Tampa Bay Lightning). AFA beat Alabama-Huntsville, 7-5, and fell to No. 11 Notre Dame, 2-0, in that tournament.

Home Stand Around the Corner Following the RMU game, Air Force plays six straight at home, including four AHA games and two against teams ranked in the top 20. The Falcons host AIC, Oct. 22-23, in a two-game series. AFA then hosts single games against Mercyhurst (Friday, Nov. 5 at 7:05) and RIT (Sunday, Nov. 7 at 6:05). AFA will then host No. 18 Colorado College (Friday, Nov. 12, 7:05) and No. 5 Yale (Sunday, Nov. 14, 6:05).

AHA Openers Air Force began play in Atlantic Hockey in the 2006-07 season. The Falcons are 3-1 in the first AHA game of the season and 6-2 in the first AHA series of the season. Air Force has opened AHA play on the road in two of the previous four years.

Scouting the Colonials RMU is in its seventh season of Division I hockey. The team spents its first six seasons in the CHA and is in its first season in Atlantic Hockey. Last season, RMU was 10-19-6 overall and finished second in the CHA with a 6-10-4 record. RMU returns 22 of 26 lettermen from last season's team, which includes goaltender Brooks Ostergard and leading scorer Nathan Longrpe. Ostergard won both games against AIC last weekend and has a .926 saves percentage and a 2.00 GAA. This season, Longre leads the team with two goals.

Series with RMU AFA and RMU have met 10 times and the Colonials hold a 6-4 advantage in the series that began in 2004. AFA won the first three games in the series and then RMU won the next six. Air Force won the last meeting, a 4-3 non-conference win at the Academy, Nov. 26, 2006. AFA is 2-2 in games played in Pittsburgh. The teams met once on neutral ice and RMU ended AFA's season in the 2006 CHA Tournament in Detroit.

Penalty Kill Strong Again Air Force killed all six opponent power plays last weekend in Alaska, including five against 12th-ranked Alaska-Fairbanks. The Falcons are picking up right where they left off last season. AFA's penalty kill led the nation for most of the 2009-10 season and finished second at 88.2. In the last 39 games, AFA has held its opponents without a power play goal 24 times. Just five times did the Falcons allowed more than one PPG.

Young Team Air Force had six freshman on the 20-man line chart for both games last weekend in Alaska. Three of the four centers for the Falcons are freshman (Jason Fabian, Casey Kleisinger and George Michalke). Wing Tony Thomas and defenseman Adam McKenzie played in both games as well. McKenzie started both. Freshman Jason Torf started the game against Alaska-Anchorage and made 28 saves. Kleisinger scored his first career point with an assist vs. Alaska-Fairbanks.