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Atlantic Conference Showdown: Air Force Helps to Gain NCAA Respect for Conference

Credit Larry Clouse Photography  After winning the Atlantic Conference Championship with a tight 2-1 victory over the Robert Morris University Colonials and earning their bid to the NCAA tournament, not many people were expecting them to do anything but roll over and be quickly knocked out. These low expectations for teams coming out of the Atlantic Conference are not all together unwarranted as it is full of small school teams with fewer scholarships to offer and thus less appeal for players, but this year the Atlantic began to turn some heads. Credit Colorado Springs Gazette  This resurgence of the Conference was highlighted by Air Force's breakout season, which started off with a bang when they defeated Boston College, who was ranked 5th in the nation at the time, 2-1 in just their first game of the season. Throughout the season Air Force was ranked in the top 20 nationwide on two separate occasions and would eventually lead to NCAA tournament berth. This tour...

Atlantic Hockey Showdown: Air Force Wins Battle of Goalies, Captures Atlantic Hockey Title

The Air Force Falcons captured the Atlantic Hockey Championship on Saturday night with a 2-1 victory in front of a nearly empty Blue Cross Arena in Rochester New York. This is most likely due to the fact that RIT did not make it to the finals for the first time in two years, RIT had won the past two Atlantic Hockey Championships. Senior Forward Ben Robillard  was the only player able to crack Air Force's stingy defense while Junior Forwards  Erik Baskin  and Jordan Himley . Sophomore Goaltender Shane Starrett  had 24 saves on 25 shots for Air Force while Freshman Francis Marotte had 12 saves on 13 shots in the loss for RMU. With the victory, Air Force receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament which will be starting next week. The Air Force Falcons will enter the NCAA tournament with a record of 26-9-5 and will play the Western Michigan Broncos in the first round. Western Michigan will enter this game with a record of 22-15-5 and played Air Force at home ...

Atlantic Hockey Showdown: Championship Game

Past Atlantic Conference Champions (Credit Wikipedia) Semifinal Results:  #1 Canisius Vs. #4 RMU The RMU Colonials used a three goal third period and a hat-trick from Junior Forward Brady Ferguson to beat the #1 overall seed Canisius 6-2 on Friday night. Look for Ferguson to play a deciding roll in the Championship game. #2 Air Force Vs. #3 Army Air Force rode a shutout performance from Sophomore Goaltender Shane Starett  (29 saves) to beat Army 1-0 and punch their ticket to the championship game. Junior Forward Ben Kucera  scored the game winner at the midpoint of the second period. Starett will need to have a great game in order for Air Force to be able to keep with RMU's high powered offense. Championship Game: #2 Air Force Vs. #4 RMU  Season Series: These two teams split their two game regular season series when Air Force visited RMU, with Air Force winning the first game 6-2 but losing 2-1 on the very next night. Championship History...