With team captain Luke Rowe having moved on, Air Force hockey will have to reinvent itself to a degree this postseason. Fortunately for the Falcons, they’ve been up to the task all season.

Air Force (18-17-1, 15-10-1 Atlantic Hockey Association) returns to the AHA tournament after missing the postseason after going 12-22-2 last year. A closing surge to the season brought a first-round bye and the team’s first home postseason series since 2020.

“Every journey’s a little bit different, every team’s a little bit different,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “I feel real good about what the team has been able to accomplish, going from a team that finished in last place last year and didn’t make the playoffs to finishing fourth, two points out of second place this year, and getting, not just a bye in the first round but getting home ice, I think it’s a massive accomplishment by our guys.”

Air Force will face fifth-seeded American International College on Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. If necessary, a deciding third game will be played at 5:05 p.m. Sunday.

The Falcons will be without Rowe, who graduated in December and played out an NCAA extension that took him through the close of the regular-season. But AIC is also missing a senior captain, as defenseman Brian Kramer is injured.

Even with that news and home ice, AIC represents a formidable quarterfinal opponent for Air Force.

The Falcons snapped a 10-game winless streak against AIC on the first night of the series the two teams played at Cadet Ice Arena in January on a 6-2 victory. The visitors earned the series split the second night, winning 4-1.

Given the nature of postseason competition, Serratore isn’t expecting high-scoring affairs, but he does believe winning Friday is crucial.

“That Game 1 is massive. In collegiate hockey just because of the nature of the competitive equity, you see a lot of splits, a lot of splits. Not very many sweeps,” he said. “Winning that first game is going to be huge to whoever gets it because, in essence, somebody’s going to have to sweep you to win the series. So we’re just taking it one game at a time.”

That’s how the Falcons finished the season on a three-game winning streak — one game at at time. After dropping the first game of a series at now-No. 19 RIT in February, the Falcons rallied for a 3-2 victory the following night without Rowe, who was injured. The next weekend, Air Force earned their first home sweep of 2024 against Robert Morris to earn the AHA No. 4. The Falcons’ performance against Robert Morris was bolstered by a pair of short-handed goals from junior Austin Schwartz and senior Brian Adams.

In their win against AIC in January, Schwartz scored short-handed as well. The junior winger’s four short-handed goals are tied for the NCAA Division I lead. While scoring on the man disadvantage is not something the Falcons can count on routinely, Air Force’s penalty killing unit is its own advantage.

“Coach (Joe) Doyle does a wonderful job with our penalty kill. There’s spots that (our guys) need to get in and they need to be in those spots if the opposition has absolute control of the puck. Sometimes there’s situations where they don’t have absolute control or maybe they bobble it for a split second and (Doyle) gives them the freedom to go with their gut in those situations,” Serratore said.

Hollywoodesque ending for Rowe

While Rowe will miss skating with Air Force for the postseason, he’s living a near-Hollywood ending to his collegiate career. Literally and figuratively.

Rowe signed with Los Angeles Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate Ontario Reign last week.

The Reign play at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, Calif. about an hour away from Hollywood.

In his second game with Ontario on Sunday evening, the Succasunna, N.J. defenseman drew the start and scored his first goal as a pro, a game-winner on a shot from the red line.

The former Falcon was named the No. 1 star of the game and his old coach couldn’t be happier.

“All of us are so proud of Luke Rowe and everything that he represents,” Serratore said.

“He’s the consummate Air Force cadet in every way, academically, athletically, leadership-wise.

“He’s humble… There’s not much that kid doesn’t have. He’s got charisma, movie-star looks and a great game to back it up.”

“He’s pretty easy to cheer for. He’s the All-American boy. What a great story and what a happy ending. The happiest of endings to not-such-a great ending, him not being able to go into the playoffs with his teammates. That would be 1A. But where things are right now with him and how they’ve gone the last week, it’s a pretty special and it’s a pretty good 1B.”

Air Force forward Austin Schwartz scores in the second period of a Jan. 12 game against American International College in the Cadet Ice Arena at Air Force Academy.

Parker Seibold, The Gazette