Air Force hockey coach Frank Serratore gave his players their flowers but left a note of caution beside them. 

The Falcons enter the postseason coming off perhaps their biggest weekend of the season, sweeping the defending Atlantic Hockey America champions and conference tournament top seed Bentley in Waltham, Mass. The result marked the first time this season Bentley had been swept in conference play during the regular season. 

“At this time of year, it’s not always the team that looks the best on paper, it’s the team that’s playing the best as a team,” Serratore said. “I couldn’t speak more highly of our guys and their effort, but we’ve been good all year. One word of caution I would say is we went into the lion’s den in the last weekend of the year and won two games against the first-place team. But also I would caution … the previous two weekends we played the ninth and 10th place teams and had a 1-1-2 record.”

The Falcons closed out the regular season on a high note, but there’s little time to celebrate as the AHA tournament is at hand. The No. 6 seed Falcons travel to No. 3 Robert Morris this weekend. Puck drop is at 5:05 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 3:05 p.m. on Sunday if a Game 3 is necessary. The Falcons and Colonials split a series in Colorado Springs in December. 

The long-serving Falcons coach said the variability in his team’s results the past few weekends is evidence of the parity in college hockey and that every team is dangerous at this time of year. 

Serratore hopes the Falcons can embody that danger this weekend as the visiting lower seed. 

Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley, who is a protégé of Serratore’s as a part of the Falcons’ coaching staff, has his team in a top-four conference playoff spot just three seasons after the program was rebooted after being shut down in 2021. 

“The guy’s a terrific coach. To be around as long as he’s been around, that doesn’t happen unless you know what you’re doing,” Serratore said. “I feel good about where we’re at, but you better be ready to be at your best. We’re a defense-first team and we’re going to have to hold Robert Morris down offensively. When we hold teams to two or fewer goals, we have an outstanding record.”    

Air Force is 13-0-2 this season when holding its opponent to two or fewer goals.

On the other hand, Air Force needs to manufacture some offense. The power play remains ripe for improvement. Air Force went 1 for 6 on the man advantage in two games against Bentley, which was an improvement on the Falcons’ final home series against rival Army, when they were 0 for 10 on the power play. 

Outside the power play, underclassmen have been driving Air Force’s offense. In the team’s six wins since its bye week in late January, freshmen and sophomores have scored the game-winning goal in five of those contests. 

Freshman Oliver Genest recorded a hat trick in the team’s 3-3 tie against Mercyhurst on Feb. 13 and sophomore Will Dawson has scored a goal in three of the last four games. 

Serratore likes the way his team is playing, and if there’s a team that can continue playing well on the road in the playoffs, it’s this year’s Falcons, who earned 10 of their 17 wins away from Cadet Ice Arena. 

As for why Air Force has been more successful on the road than at home this season, Serratore said it likely has to do with its players getting more rest on road trips.

“When we’re on the road, we control what they eat, we control their rest,” he said. “We control how they sleep, we control when the morning skates are, it’s all hockey. The academic part, obviously, we have study tables on the road, but we can put those in where we want them to be. But the bottom line is when we’re playing on the road, we’re playing with 100% battery acid. Our guys are rested and they are fed.”