# 2020–21 Air Force Falcons men's ice hockey season

The 2020–21 Air Force Falcons men's ice hockey season was the 53rd season of play for the program and the 15th season in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Falcons represented the United States Air Force Academy and were coached by Frank Serratore, in his 24th season.
The start of the college hockey season was delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Air Force's first scheduled game was in late-November as opposed to early-October, which was the norm.

## Season

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Air Force's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
Air Force was consistently ranked as one of the worst teams for most of the season. The Falcon's went winless in their first 10 matches and their offense was particularly weak, averaging less than 2 goals per game in those matches. Near the end of the season Air Force's offense finally was able to cobble together a collection of goals that gave the team a three-game winning streak. They entered the Atlantic Hockey Tournament hoping to continue their run, unfortunately, Bentley ended the Falcons' year with a 3–7 loss.
Luke Rowe sat out the season.

## Departures

| Player | Position | Nationality | Cause |
| Kieran Durgan | Forward | United States | Left program |
| Carter Ekberg | Defenseman | United States | Transferred to Long Island |
| Erich Jaeger | Forward | United States | Graduation |
| Keegan Mantaro | Forward | United States | Left program |
| Luke Manning | Forward | United States | Transferred to St. Thomas |
| Pierce Pluemer | Forward | United States | Graduation |
| Matt Pulver | Forward | United States | Graduation |
| Trevor Stone | Forward | United States | Graduation |
| Brady Tomlak | Forward | United States | Graduation (Signed with Wheeling Nailers) |
| Joe Tyran | Defenseman | United States | Graduation |
| Jensen Zerban | Forward | United States | Left program |

## Recruiting

| Player | Position | Nationality | Age | Notes |
| Brian Adams | Forward | United States | 20 | San Ramon, CA |
| Maiszon Balboa | Goaltender | United States | 20 | Colorado Springs, CO |
| Sam Brennan | Defenseman | United States | 20 | Brighton, MA |
| Parker Brown | Forward | United States | 20 | Hanahan, SC |
| Thomas Daskas | Forward | United States | 21 | Rochester Hills, MN |
| Billy Duma | Forward | United States | 22 | Plymouth, MN; had already completed two years of classes |
| Will Gavin | Forward | United States | 20 | Durham, CT |
| Nate Horn | Forward | United States | 21 | Elk River, MN |
| Noah Kim | Defenseman | United States | 20 | Fullerton, CA |
| Jacob Marti | Forward | United States | 21 | Highlands Ranch, CO |
| Luke Robinson | Defenseman | United States | 21 | Dublin, CA |

## Standings

2020–21 Atlantic Hockey Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | OW | OL | SW | PTS | PT% | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #15 American International †* | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32 | .889 | 47 | 18 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 67 | 40 |
| Army | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 30 | .667 | 42 | 33 | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 71 | 48 |
| Robert Morris | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 29 | .644 | 58 | 48 | 24 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 85 | 69 |
| Canisius | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 24 | .615 | 42 | 34 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 59 | 46 |
| RIT | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | .590 | 43 | 40 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 68 | 70 |
| Sacred Heart | 13 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 20 | .513 | 35 | 38 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 43 | 59 |
| Mercyhurst | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 23 | .479 | 54 | 50 | 21 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 64 | 67 |
| Bentley | 15 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 16 | .356 | 35 | 48 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 42 | 51 |
| Niagara | 15 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 15 | .333 | 39 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 57 | 70 |
| Air Force | 13 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | .231 | 32 | 49 | 14 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 35 | 56 |
| Holy Cross | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | .194 | 22 | 38 | 16 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 30 | 52 |
| Championship: March 20, 2021 † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion (Riley Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date | Time | Opponent$^#$ | Site | Decision | Result | Attendance | Record |
| Regular Season ||||||||||
| November 27 | 1:00 PM | at American International | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | Schilling | L 1–3 | 0 | 0–1–0 (0–1–0) |
| November 28 | 1:00 PM | at American International | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | Schilling | L 1–2 | 0 | 0–2–0 (0–2–0) |
| December 4 | 7:05 PM | vs. Robert Morris | Cadet Ice Arena • Colorado Springs, Colorado | Schilling | L 1–4 | 0 | 0–3–0 (0–3–0) |
| December 5 | 4:05 PM | vs. Robert Morris | Cadet Ice Arena • Colorado Springs, Colorado | Schilling | L 2–4 | 0 | 0–4–0 (0–4–0) |
| December 12 | 5:05 PM | vs. USNTDP* | Cadet Ice Arena • Colorado Springs, Colorado (Exhibition) | LaRocque | T 4–4 $^{SOL}$ | 0 | |
| December 13 | 5:05 PM | vs. USNTDP* | Cadet Ice Arena • Colorado Springs, Colorado (Exhibition) | Schilling | L 1–3 | 0 | |
| January 3 | 3:00 PM | at Niagara | Dwyer Arena • Lewiston, New York | Schilling | L 2–7 | 0 | 0–5–0 (0–5–0) |
| January 4 | 3:05 PM | at Niagara | Dwyer Arena • Lewiston, New York | LaRocque | T 1–1 $^{SOL}$ | 0 | 0–5–1 (0–5–1) |
| January 4 | 3:05 PM | vs. Sacred Heart | Dwyer Arena • Lewiston, New York | LaRocque | L 3–4 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 0–6–1 (0–6–1) |
| January 8 | 3:00 PM | at Mercyhurst | Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania | LaRocque | L 2–5 | 0 | 0–7–1 (0–7–1) |
| January 9 | 1:00 PM | at Mercyhurst | Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania | Schilling | L 3–6 | 0 | 0–8–1 (0–8–1) |
| January 31 | 3:05 PM | at Bentley | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Schilling | L 3–6 | 0 | 0–9–1 (0–9–1) |
| February 1 | 1:05 PM | at Bentley | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Schilling | W 4–3 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 1–9–1 (1–9–1) |
| February 19 | 7:05 PM | vs. Canisius | Cadet Ice Arena • Colorado Springs, Colorado | Schilling | W 4–3 $^{OT}$ | 100 | 2–9–1 (2–9–1) |
| February 20 | 5:00 PM | vs. Canisius | Cadet Ice Arena • Colorado Springs, Colorado | LaRocque | W 5–1 | 100 | 3–9–1 (3–9–1) |
| Atlantic Hockey Tournament ||||||||||
| March 9 | 3:05 PM | at Bentley* | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts (First Round) | LaRocque | L 3–7 | 0 | 3–10–1 |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Mountain Time. ||||||||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| Willie Reim | F | 14 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 10 |
| Brandon Koch | D | 14 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 6 |
| Will Gavin | F | 14 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 2 |
| Shawn Knowlton | F | 10 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 19 |
| Max Harper | F | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Nate Horn | F | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 |
| Thomas Daskas | F | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 12 |
| Jacob Levin | D | 12 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 6 |
| Blake Bride | RW | 14 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 12 |
| Bennett Norlin | F | 13 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Brian Adams | F | 12 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| Ty Pochipinski | F | 14 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Luke Robinson | D | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 |
| Zack Mirageas | D | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 38 |
| Keenan Lund | F | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Marshall Bowery | F | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Jake Marti | F | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 18 |
| Alex Mehnert | D | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Dalton Weigel | D | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Erik Anderson | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Noah Kim | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Billy Duma | F | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Andrew Kruse | D | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zack LaRocque | G | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alex Schilling | G | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Sam Brennan | D | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Bench | D | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Total | | | 35 | 58 | 93 | 171 |

## Goaltending statistics

| Name | Games | Minutes | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals Against | Saves | Shut Outs | SV % | GAA |
| Erik Anderson | 1 | 2:47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.00 |
| Zach LaRocque | 8 | 380 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 153 | 0 | .895 | 2.84 |
| Alex Schilling | 10 | 458 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 33 | 183 | 0 | .847 | 4.32 |
| Empty Net | - | 13 | - | - | - | 5 | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 14 | 855 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 56 | 337 | 0 | .858 | 3.93 |

## Rankings

| Poll | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 (Final) |
| USCHO.com | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | - | NR |
| USA Today | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.

## Awards and honors

| Player | Award | Ref |
| Zach LaRocque | Atlantic Hockey Second Team | |