RAMSEY: AFA hockey has risen under Serratore, but he's not satisfied
Frank Serratore and his Air Force hockey team have traveled to the NCAA Tournament four times in the past five seasons.
The Falcons ended three of their past four seasons with overtime losses to national powers. They’ve placed the Atlantic Hockey Association on the national map. They pack cozy Cadet Ice Arena.
Under Serratore’s direction, the Falcons are a player on the national stage.
And you might start wondering if Serratore is satisfied, maybe even ready to relax, just a little.
He’s not.
He promises to remain the same guy he’s always been, and that’s the guy who often appears to have pounded six triple espressos in the past 15 minutes.
“You know, you can never relax,” Serratore said. “The expectations the academy puts on me, the expectations the fans put on me, they don’t exceed my expectations.
“I’m in this because I love to compete. If we don’t win, if we don’t contend for a championship, I guarantee there isn’t anybody who is more frickin’ disappointed than me.
“I’m not a cruise-control guy. If I get that way, I’ll just get out. On the ice, in recruiting, at our sports camp, I want to win. I don’t care what it is.”
At the beginning of last season, Serratore’s renovation project at Air Force appeared in serious trouble. The Falcons lost their first four games, surrendered 16 goals, and looked ready for a long, sad season.
Instead, they won the AHA Tournament and came achingly close to upsetting No. 1 seed Yale in a packed, hostile arena 20 miles from the Yale campus.
The theme of Serratore’s summer might surprise you. He’s not focusing on his team’s surprising, entertaining rise from the ashes.
He’s thinking about the near miss against Yale.
“We expected to win that game!” he said, his voice rising with each word. “We were in there to win that game!”
As the Falcons look to the 2011-2012 season, this steely belief will again be crucial.
A few minutes after the Yale loss, senior-to-be forward Paul Weisgarber stood outside a silent Air Force locker room.
“People in the hockey world are going to say, ‘Wow, they put up a good fight.’ But that’s not enough for us.”
It was amazing, really, to listen to Weisgarber talk about his disappointment with a near-victory over the nation’s No. 1 seed.
Not so long ago, Serratore’s renovation project at Air Force seemed doomed for failure. On March 28, 2006, I sat beside Serratore on a plane ride home from the NCAA hockey tournament in Wisconsin, where he had traveled to watch Colorado College lose to Cornell.
He had lost 84 games in four seasons. His Falcons could score goals, but struggled to stop anybody. In the 2005-2006 season, Air Force finished 11-20-1 and surrendered five or more goals 10 times.
But Serratore’s solution was already on the way. Goaltender Andrew Volkening led the Falcons to 84 wins and three trips to the NCAA Tournament in the next four seasons.
Remember, Volkening’s successor, sophomore-to-be Jason Torf nearly carried the Falcons to victory over Yale.
Serratore refuses to relax, refuses to be satisfied. Expectations now surround his team.
And that’s fine with him.
