Air Force Academy’s men’s ice hockey team will host Sacred Heart University for a two-game series at the Cadet Ice Arena on January 30 and 31. The games are scheduled for Friday at 7:05 pm MT and Saturday at 5:05 pm MT. Both games will be streamed on FloHockey, with radio coverage available on XtraSports 1300 AM and AM 740 KVOR.
Air Force enters the series with an overall record of 11-11-2 and a conference record of 7-8-1 in Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) play. Sacred Heart holds a 13-8-3 overall record and is third in the AHA standings with a 9-4-3 conference mark.
The Falcons are coming off a split series against Holy Cross, while Sacred Heart recently split games at the Connecticut Cup, losing to Quinnipiac and defeating Yale. The last time these teams met was earlier this season in Fairfield, Connecticut, where Air Force won both games.
Head coach Frank Serratore leads Air Force in his 29th season with a school record of 483-468-104. Sacred Heart is coached by C.J. Marottolo, who has been with the program for sixteen years.
The two teams have played each other 65 times since their first meeting in 2000, with Air Force leading the series 34-24-7. In recent matchups, Air Force has won five of the last eight meetings against Sacred Heart.
Key contributors for Air Force include sophomore forwards Will Dawson, Nick Sajevic, and Sam Stitz. This line has been involved in half of the team’s even-strength goals this season. Defenseman Chris Hedden ranks second nationally among defensemen in goals scored. Sajevic leads the AHA in assists and is tied for the team lead in points; he also ranks high nationally in faceoff wins and percentage. Stitz is second on the team in goals and shares the team lead in points.
Goaltender Dominik Wasik has started the last nineteen games for Air Force and ranks sixth in the conference for goals-against average.
Sacred Heart’s offense is led by senior forward Felix Trudeau, who leads both his league and is tied nationally for most goals scored this season. Marcus Joughin tops his team in assists. In goal, Teagan Kendrick has started eleven consecutive games with strong statistics including a .923 save percentage.
