This year will be one of big asks for Air Force hockey. Per the Atlantic Hockey America's preseason coaches poll released Tuesday, the Falcons are picked to finish seventh of 11 this season despite an 18-19-1 2023-2024 season that saw them earn a fourth-place finish, a first-round bye and a home playoff series. But last year's squad had the advantage of being older and deeper.
This year's Falcons return some excellent veterans such as senior goaltender Guy Blessing, senior center Clayton Cosentino, junior center Mason McCormick and junior defenseman Chris Hedden, but Air Force is thin in their upper ranks with just six seniors and three juniors. Being a service academy team without the luxuries of the transfer portal to bring in veteran players from other programs or having fifth-year players makes the task of being a great team even more challenging. "There ain't no transfers coming to Air Force and Army, no quick fixes, no mulligans," Falcons' coach Frank Serratore said during media day.
"So we're going to need some freshmen and sophomores to play above their pay grade just to give us the depth that we're going need ...
We just don't want to compete, we want to contend." Serratore, entering his 28th season at the helm of the program, said even strength play was a stumbling block for last year's team. He noted that of the 21 skaters who played 15 or more games for Air Force, only five were plus players (i.
e., had a positive stat in the game's plus/minus category used to show.