It's down to business this time of year for Falcons hockey

After Valentine’s Day, it’s always down to business for Air Force hockey, which continued its five-year run of late-season success with a sweep of Sacred Heart on Saturday.

A 31-9-1 mark in games played since Feb. 15 the past five seasons, including a 6-0 run this year, has the Falcons headed to the Atlantic Hockey Association semifinals in Rochester, N.Y., for an unprecedented fifth straight season. Air Force won three straight AHA titles in its first three seasons in the league to garner an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

“They have a knack for coming on at the right time,” coach Frank Serratore said. “That’s a tribute to the kids.”

That mentality includes focusing on defense, which is critical for any team including the No. 2 seed Falcons (18-11-6). The five goals against freshman goalie Jason Torf in a 7-5 win Friday were a product of the skaters in front of him not clearing rebounds quickly or losing track of their man on the power play.

“We were real disappointed in ourselves because we’d worked on that in practice the previous two weeks,” senior Derrick Burnett said. “We went over the tape (Saturday morning) and went out and did our jobs that night.”

As a result, Torf recorded his first college shutout. He will start against No. 3 seed Holy Cross (17-15-5) on Friday.

 “That young man showed a pile of substance coming back the way he did and pitching a shutout,” Serratore said.