ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Air Force won its seventh Atlantic Hockey championship in 12 years with a 5-1 win over Robert Morris on Saturday.
That may have been the only thing to go as planned this season, as the Falcons returned a veteran team picked by Atlantic Hockey coaches to finish first in the league.
However, early-season injuries decimated the lineup and had Air Force mired in 10th place in December.
Things were not exactly going according to plan.
Fortune turned the Falcons’ way in 2018, with a 10-4-2 record in conference play leading the Falcons to the fifth seed in the postseason.
Yet things don’t always go according to plan even when things go in your favor, explained Air Force coach Frank Serratore.
Two goals in the first three minutes of the game got the Falcons off and running, but those quick tallies were not exactly what was expected.
“I’ll tell you what it did,” said Serratore, whose team sped to an early lead. “It took us off our game plan. My assistant coaches, they had our guys prepared for everything except a 4-0 lead.”
Air Force started with a strong forecheck, as intended, while dodging two grade-A chances for Robert Morris in the early minutes of the game.
Kyle Haak scored the first of his two goals of the contest at 2:06, sweeping a sharp-angle shot from the left-wing boards into the net before Robert Morris goaltender Francis Marotte could get set at the near post. Defenseman Jonathan Kopacka followed 50 seconds later as he buried a slap shot from above the right hash marks.
“We never got off on the right foot tonight,” said Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley. “We chased the game right off the bat.”
Jordan Himley’s power-play goal on a fat rebound late in the first and Evan Geisler’s interception of a clearing pass that allowed him to weave his way in on Marotte gave the Falcons a 4-0 at 5:07 of the second, leading Schooley to put Andrew Pikul in net.
“We were trying to keep our guys playing, but not recklessly where we give something up,” said Serratore. “We wanted to get a knockout punch.”
Serratore said he told his team during the first intermission that the game was a “three-round fight. We just won the first round. Now let’s go win the second round.”
The Colonials returned a few counterpunches of their own as the second period wound down. Nick Prkusic got Robert Morris’ only goal on the power play 15:52 of that frame.
The goal ended 214:01 of scoreless goaltending for Air Force’s Billy Christopoulos dating to a 1-0 loss to Army on March 10.
“Bill has been the heart of this team,” said Air Force captain Dylan Abood. “When we were struggling with injuries and not playing our best hockey, Billy always came through for us. The guys came through and gave him a little cushion early on.”
Robert Morris outshot Air Force 29-17 in the final two periods, and dominated in the faceoff circle.
“They moved it around, they got some chances,” said Serratore. “They won too many faceoffs. We’ve got to get better on the dot.”
Haak effectively put an end to Robert Morris’ comeback efforts when he scored his second goal, an empty-netter with six minutes remaining.
Air Force likely will face top seed St. Cloud State in the NCAA regionals.
“On paper, this is not the best group of individuals we’ve brought to the NCAA tournament,” said Serratore.
“But this could very well be the best team.”
