Category: Air Force Falcons

Air Force Falcons category only shows posts related to Air Force hockey.

Posted on Posted in Air Force Falcons, Atlantic Hockey, Holy Cross Crusaders
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The first time Holy Cross men’s hockey traveled west to the U.S. Air Force Academy was during the 1992-93 season. Presently, the Crusaders and Falcons are division foes within Atlantic Hockey America in Division I. But that wasn’t always the case. In fact, this first game from 1993 is unique in that not only were these two programs not in the same conference at the time of this first game, they weren’t even in the same division. Air Force introduced hockey in 1968 and has played at the highest level since. At the time of this series, the Falcons were an independent hockey program. Holy Cross, on the other hand, debuted hockey within the College Division in 1966 and was later classified as a Division II hockey program when the NCAA switched to a three-tier system in 1973. The Crusaders moved to ECAC East in Division III prior to the 1984-85 season. When Holy Cross played Air Force the first weekend of February 1993, the team was playing two Divisions above its standard competition.

The first game of the series was Friday, February 5, 1993. The Crusaders put up a good fight but lost 4-3. The floodgates opened the next night as the home team won again; this time by a score of 8-0. Unfortunately for Air Force, this was the last game the team would win during the season. It dropped its five remaining contests to Alaska, Colorado College, and Alaska Anchorage. Holy Cross later missed out on the ECAC East tournament as the Crusaders barely finished outside the top 8 of the conference standings in tenth place out of 19 teams.

Flash forward more than thirty years and these two programs will meet twice this weekend in what will be the 66th and 67th hockey games in the all-time series. Holy Cross holds the slight edge with a 27-24-14 record. A lot has changed since that first meeting between a Division I independent and Division III team. The hockey programs may have taken different paths to get to where they are today, but they are now on equal ground within the highest division in NCAA men’s hockey.

Photo Credit: Air Force sophomore Dan MacAllister battles with a Holy Cross player. 1993 Air Force Polaris Yearbook.

Posted on Posted in Air Force Falcons, Atlantic Hockey, Colorado College Tigers, NCHC
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On February 17, 2020, Air Force and Colorado College took the Battle for Pikes Peak outside for the first time. Air Force hosted Colorado College in the second game of a home-and-home series. It was played outdoors at the football stadium in game that was touted as the Faceoff at Falcon Stadium. It was the first outdoor hockey game in program history for Air Force and the second for Colorado College – the first was against Denver at Coors Field in 2016. This was also the second outdoor hockey game played on the field at Falcon Stadium in three days. The NHL hosted a Stadium Series game two days earlier on Saturday that saw the Los Angeles Kings defeat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1.

The Tigers won the first game of the weekend at home on Friday night 6-2 and were looking for the first back-to-back wins since sweeping Princeton in December. The Falcons were hoping to get back in the win column for the first time since a sweep against Niagara in January. And above all, the Pikes Peak Trophy hung in the balance. The two teams first met in 1969 and created the Pikes Peak Trophy in 2013 to be awarded each year.

Grant Cruikshank broke the proverbial ice when he scored a power-play goal in the first period. He scored the second goal of the game halfway through the second period to make it 2-0 Tigers. The Falcons got on the board with a power-play goal of their own with only 34 seconds left in the second frame. The teams traded goals early in the third period. With Air Force down one goal, Grant Cruikshank netted the hat trick and put the game away with 37 seconds left in regulation. Colorado College defeated Air Force 4-2 and retained the Pikes Peak Trophy.

The same two teams will reignite the Battle for Pikes Peak this weekend. The rivalry was put on hold last season due to COVID scheduling. The home-and-home series starts off (indoors) at Air Force on Friday with Colorado College hosting the second game at the brand new Ed Robson Arena on Saturday. Air Force will be looking to bring home the Pikes Peak Trophy for the first time since 2017.

In the above photo, Luke Manning drives to the net as Colorado College goalie Matt Vernon prepares for a shot.

Photo Credit: Trevor Cokley via DVIDS