Knudson: One is the Loneliest Number
FacebookBy Mark Knudson, The Mtn. Insider
February 25, 2011
It’s not all that unusual to have a sport that not all the Conference member schools participate in. Baseball is a good example (unfortunately). Colorado State and Wyoming cut their baseball programs many years ago (a topic for another blog), leaving the Mountain West with only seven baseball programs.
Same goes for sports like swimming, wrestling, and others. Not all the schools play all those sports.
What is unusual is to have a sport that just one Conference member participates in. Welcome to United States Air Force Academy ice hockey.
Just like basketball, the NCAA hockey season is winding down toward the playoffs and Air Force, playing in the Atlantic Hockey Association, is in a pretty good place in terms of their conference tournament.
Just like basketball, the ultimate objective is reaching the NCAA tournament.
While the rest of the MWC is locked in on key weekend basketball games like BYU at San Diego State, the eyes of much of Air Force Nation will be on the Cadet Ice Arena, where the Falcons host Robert Morris Friday and Saturday with a first round conference playoff bye on the line. The Falcons currently sit in third place going into the two games with the Colonials. If Air Force can take three of four available points in the two game set, they will get a pass and slide directly into the second round of the conference tournament.
The Falcons are coached by former University of Denver headman Frank Serratore, who had a good four-year run at DU in the early 1990s before a short stint in the International Hockey League. In 1997, what seemed like the perfect fit for both coach and program presented itself and Serratore took over at the Academy.
Since then, his teams have won more than 225 games, cracked the top ten nationally (2008) and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament (2009), knocking off powerful Michigan to get there. Under Serratore, the Falcon have won three Atlantic Hockey Association titles and been to three NCAA tourneys. They’ve also upended local powerhouses DU and Colorado College a time or two as well.
The current group of seven key Academy seniors will conclude their careers having been the only service academy team (thus far) to ever advance to the Elite Eight, and with a handful more wins, will become the winningest class in Academy history.
The Captain of this group is Jacques Lamoureux (sounds like the name of a stud hockey player, doesn’t it)? The forward from Grand Forks, North Dakota is one of 10 collegiate hockey players named a finalist for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, recognizing student-athletes who have combined excellence in athletics, academics and community service.
Lamoureux is on the Dean’s List at the Academy and also leads the team with 13 goals and 28 points. He ranks eighth in the nation with eight power play goals and 17th in the nation with three game-winners. Lamoureux has been named the AHA Player of the Week twice this season and six times in his career. He has 123 career points in 103 games at Air Force. He also owns the AFA record book, holding the Air Force career records for power play (36) and game-winning goals (16). His last tally gave him 56 for his career in AHA games to tie the all-time league record, set by Army’s Owen Meyer.
Going into the weekend series, the Falcons sit 14-11-6 (12-7-6 in AHA play) and trail Robert Morris by a point with two regular season games left. A little home cooking and some more magic from Lamoureux and we might have to make some time to talk a little March Madness, puck style, around The Mtn. studios in the coming weeks.
ALL TIMES MOUNTAIN
