Opinion: Injured Ehn's heart is still with Air Force hockey teammates

A red heart adorns the cast on Eric Ehn’s left leg. Right over his toes, the heart is the creation of his fiancee, Abigail, who sketched the form Sunday night.

She wanted to cheer him up, and he appreciates her kindness. But it may take more than this hopeful heart to lift his soul.

On Friday night and Sunday afternoon, Ehn was reduced to watching his Air Force teammates tumble to twin 2-1 defeats at Army.

He’s the star, perhaps the best player in the program’s history, but all he could do was sit on a couch in Abigail’s apartment near Chapel Hills Mall and yell.

His fractured left leg rested on a coffee table as he shouted at her TV. He knew his teammates were skating 1,632 miles away. He knew they couldn’t hear him.

He didn’t care.

“Oh, we did it again!” Ehn shouted after repeated Air Force turnovers. “We’re killing ourselves!”

It was a long, painful weekend, and Ehn isn’t the only one suffering.

The Falcons’ season, once promising, now teeters. On Jan. 18, the Falcons dominated the University of Denver and grabbed one of the most impressive victories in the program’s history.

The next night against Colorado College, Ehn suffered his freak injury, crashing into the boards and fracturing the fibula along with ligament damage in his ankle.

The best-case scenario is he’ll return in six weeks, just in time for the Atlantic Hockey Association playoffs and the Falcons’ quest for a second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Yet a more gloomy possibility hovers over the Falcons. Ehn, a senior, might never again skate for Air Force.

He shrugged his shoulders as he considered his predicament. He’s a stoic type, not given to high emotion. His shouting matches with the TV were rare bursts of anger.

“To get depressed or sad would be, you know, useless,” he said. “I’m going to try to stay on that flat-line and try to get better every day.”

Air Force coach Frank Serratore has sold his players on hope. Sure, Ehn was one of three finalists for last season’s Hobey Baker Trophy, college hockey’s highest honor. Yes, he ranks among the most dangerous offensive players in school history.

“I don’t want to make it something bigger than it is,” Serratore said Monday afternoon. “It’s a shame, but the show must go on.”

Tough talk, and it’s too early to know if the Falcons can make good on their coach’s words.

The Air Force offense slumbered against Colorado College and Army, wasting three strong goaltending performances. Now, the Falcons must revive without their premier player.

“Heck,” Serratore said, “if the hockey gods came down to speak to me before the season and said, ‘Frank, we’ll spot CC and Army two goals and nothing more, would you take that?’

“I’d take that in a heartbeat.”

Serratore was weary. After returning from a long, frustrating journey to his archrival’s rink, the last thing he wants is a team that feels sorry for itself.

So he does his own shouting and encouraging. Ehn shouts at the TV. Serratore shouts at players who stand in front of him.

His strategy may be working.

Forward Mike Phillipich has enjoyed grand times with Ehn. They worked together on the Falcons’ powerful top line last season. He said his teammates have refused “to lower our expectations.”

Ehn will try, as he listens and watches as a mere observer, to also embrace optimism. He yearns to return. He waits to see if he can.

“I hope the guys can make the best of it,” he said. “It’s out of my hands.”

And then he pulled himself to his feet, grabbed his crutches and started a slow journey to his dorm room, his left leg perched slightly ahead of the rest of his body, a hopeful red heart leading his way.