Frank Serratore has seen a lot of glory in his 25 seasons behind the Air Force bench.
Those accolades include seven conference titles in addition to a 14-2 record in the Atlantic Hockey final four coming into tonight’s semifinal with Rochester Institute of Technology.
But after dispatching Army West Point in this year’s Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals, Serratore said that this year’s Falcons team might be his favorite.
After a 4-3 win over RIT tonight to put Air Force into the championship game, it’s understandable why he feels that way. But when asked about it, his response was measured.
“It’s like naming your favorite child,” he said. “You love them all differently. I just have a tremendous amount of respect for this group. They are young, young, young, when the rest of college hockey is old, old, old.”
The Falcons never trailed, but RIT fought to tie the contest three times before Brandon Koch got the game-winner, his second of the night, with 10:07 to play.
“The game was how it was expected to be,” Serratore said. “I said early on that I would be surprised if it wasn’t an exciting, entertaining game. And that’s exactly what it was.”
“I thought we played a real good game,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “We competed really hard. We had some really good opportunities, but whenever we scored, they responded.”
Air Force’s Will Gavin opened the scoring with the only goal of the first period. The sophomore netted his 16th goal of the season, breaking down the left wing and putting a shot past RIT net minder Tommy Scarfone, who finished with 22 saves.
RIT got on the board at 10:04 of the second period when Aiden Hansen-Bukata pounced on a rebound at the size of the net, tying the game at 1-1.
A turning point came in the final minute of the second. With RIT’s Spencer Berry in the box for tripping, Tiger forward Carter Wilkie was sprung on a shorthanded breakaway, but couldn’t get a good shot on Falcons goaltender Alex Shilling. Air Force converted on an Andrew DeCarlo goal on that same power play with 35 second left in the period.
“That was big,” said Wilson. “A two-goal swing.”
That set up a wild third period that saw three goals scored in a span of 1:26. Dan Willet tied the gamed for the Tigers at 4:15 before Koch’s first goal of the night again staked the Falcons to a lead. But Grady Hobbs tied the game for RIT again 37 seconds later.
After Koch’s second of the game midway through the period, Air Force held off a furious attempt by RIT in the closing minutes.
“To win in the postseason, you need special teams and goaltending,” said Serratore. “It also comes down to scoring the first goal. I don’t believe we ever trailed. When they did catch up, we responded.”
“When we get scored on, it’s just steady,” said Air Force defenseman Luke Rowe, who had three assists. “No ones’s got their head down. We know we can get the next one.”
That next one was eventually Koch’s game winner.
“I’ve always been a pass-first person,” said Koch of his second goal. “I threw one back door to Clay(ton) Cosentino, who got a shot off, got the pass back from Rowe, and we had a really good screen up front.”
Shilling, the lone senior on the team, made 24 saves for his 14th win of the season.
“Shilling has the ability to be good when he wants to be,” said Serratore. “He’s a cool customer. He has a great mentality for a goalie. He’s got a short memory. It’s all about the next shot. When you let one in that you weren’t proud of, you better forget it, because you can’t let the next shot go in.”
“He’s our rock,” said Rowe. “He plays like a stud. So calm, so cool. Next shot mentality.”
Air Force will go for its eighth Atlantic Hockey title tomorrow night against American International. The Falcons are 7-0 in AHA championship games, but remain the underdog.
Serratore knows this, but says his team doesn’t.
“This shouldn’t be happening,” he said. “Thank God they didn’t get the memo.”
