HHistoryistory ooff FFalconalcon HHockeyockey With the drop of the puck to begin the The program continued to gain momen- Falcons to more Division I victories than any 2012-13 season, the Falcons will enter their tum, posting its first winning season in 1970- other Falcon coach. 45th season of Division I hockey. 71 with a 15-11-2 record. In Serratore’s 10th season, he took the pro- With the Academy still in its infancy, the However, it was the following season that gram to new heights. The Falcons claimed the dream of hockey at the youngest military would be the Falcons’ breakthrough year. Atlantic Hockey Association championship academy was born. Heyliger hired his former All-American and played Minnesota in the NCAA West In 1958, a group of cadets began an in- player at Michigan, John Matchefts, as an Regional, both firsts for any service academy tramural hockey team. Relying on freezing assistant coach and the Falcons posted a team. A 4-3 loss to the Gophers only whet the temperatures and the shadows from the dor- 25-6 record in 1971-72. A few years later, Falcons’ appetite. Serratore backed that cham- mitory, cadets donned football and lacrosse in Matchefts’ first season as head coach, the pionship season up with another ring as the equipment and played hockey in the courtyard Falcons posted a 24-5-1 mark for the school’s Falcons won the AHA title and faced second- of Vandenberg Hall. best winning percentage. What will best be re- ranked Miami in the NCAA Northeast Re- membered from that team is a pair of dramatic gional, falling to the RedHawks in overtime. A few years later one of the greatest col- one-goal wins over Colorado College. lege hockey coaches ever, Vic Heyliger, After knocking on the door twice, the Fal- became interested in such a fledgling pro- Matchefts went on to win 154 games in 11 cons finally kicked it in with a record-setting gram. With six national championships to his seasons before passing the baton to his former season in 2008-09. AFA won a school-record credit at Michigan, the “Father of Air Force standout, Chuck Delich. Delich, who still 28 games, won its third straight AHA cham- Hockey,” came to the Academy in 1966 and ranks 10th in NCAA history in career points pionship and won its first-ever NCAA game guided the club team. per game, shattered every school record in his with a win over the storied Michigan Wolver- four years. ines. At long last came the night of Nov. 29, 1968, when the first hockey game was played After taking over the program in 1985, In 2010-11, the Falcons claimed their at the Cadet Ice Arena. The Falcons defeated Delich garnered early success much like his fourth championship in five years. Another the Colorado All-Stars, a collage of former predecessor. In his second season, he posted trip to the NCAA Tournament ended with yet collegiate players, 8-6. The first game was not a 19-10 record, the most wins in 10 years. another overtime loss, this time a 2-1 loss to without its share of quirky moments. During He then strung together a school-record five top-seeded Yale. the first shift in the first period, a slap shot consecutive winning seasons in his 12 years The Falcons added their fifth conference was taken and went completely through the while tying the school record with 154 coach- title in the last six years by beating RIT, 4-0, “shatter-proof” glass and onto the running ing wins. During the Delich years, the Falcons in the 2011-12 championship game. AFA’s track in the multi-purpose area. posted a winning record against rival Army, season ended in the first round of the NCAA including a 6-1-1 record at home against the Tournament with a 2-0 loss to No. 1 Boston The Falcons finally got their first taste of Black Knights. intercollegiate competition in the new arena College, the eventual national champions. and it was not pleasant. Notre Dame, another The third decade of Falcon hockey With its humble beginnings in an outdoor first-year program, swept the Falcons, 8-1 and brought several changes to the program. Frank rink relying on the unpredictable Colorado 5-4. Air Force gained its first home win with a Serratore, who has coached at nearly every weather, Falcon hockey has grown by leaps 6-4 win over Ohio State on Jan. 17, 1968. level of hockey, took over in 1998. His enthu- and bounds. In the past 10 years, nearly siastic, disciplined style of hockey injected a 700,000 fans have watched the Falcons. new energy into the program. He has led the COACHING HISTORY Coach Years Seasons G W L T Pct. Vic Heyliger 1969-74 6 165 85 77 3 .524 John Matchefts 1975-85 11 310 154 150 6 .506 Chuck Delich 1986-97 12 370 154 197 19 .442 Frank Serratore 1998-Pres. 15 556 255 250 51 .504 Total --- 44 1401 648 674 79 .487 Heyliger Matcheft s Delich Serratore MMikeike SmellieSmellie 2011-122012-13 Air Force Hockey - Page 60 CCoachesoaches iinn tthehe UU.S..S. HHockeyockey HHallall ooff FFameame Having only four head coaches in the 45 seasons of varsity hockey, the Air Force Academy is proud to have two former coaches elected to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame: Vic Heyliger and John Matchefts. VIC HEYLIGER JOHN MATCHEFTS HEAD COACH HEAD COACH 1969-1974 1975-1985 Vic Heyliger, the “Father of Air Force Hockey,” came to John Matchefts was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of the Academy in 1966 to coach the Falcons’ club team. In Fame in 1991 and was named to the NCAA’s 50th anniver- 1968-69, he became the Falcons’ first varsity head coach. sary hockey team in 1997. Matchefts played on three national In his six seasons at the helm, the Falcons quickly became a championship teams at Michigan under Vic Heyliger from competitive hockey program at the Division I level. Heyliger 1951-53. Matchefts earned All-American honors in 1951 led the Falcons to an 85-77-3 record, including a phenomenal and 1953, was twice named to the all-tournament team at the 25-6 record in 1971-72, the fourth season of varsity hockey. NCAA Championships and was the finals MVP in 1953. The native of Concord, Mass., will always be regarded Following his college playing career, Matchefts played as one of the greatest college hockey coaches ever. In 13 on the USA National Team in 1955 and earned a silver seasons as the head coach of his alma mater, Michigan, he medal as an alternate captain with the 1956 USA Olympic led the Wolverines to six NCAA Championships. He led the Team. After serving as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Wolverines to a 228-61-13 record from 1944-57. Corps, Matchefts returned to hockey in 1957 as the head In his fourth season, he led the 1948 Wolverines to a 20- coach at Lincoln High School in Thief River Falls, Minn. 2-1 record and the school’s first NCAA Championship ever. While coaching at Lincoln and his alma mater, Eveleth High He repeated the feat in 1951 as Michigan posted a 22-4-1 School, he led the 1959 and 1960 teams to the state tourna- record and defeated Brown, 7-1, in the championship game. ment and never had a losing season. That title was Michigan’s first of three straight champion- The native of Eveleth, Minn., guided the Colorado Col- ships and five in six years. Heyliger was a three-year letter- lege hockey program for five seasons and posted a 48-72-2 man at Michigan from 1934-37. The outstanding defenseman mark. He was named the 1969 Western Collegiate Hockey award at Michigan is named in his honor. Following his Association Coach of the Year. playing career at Michigan, he played three seasons in the Matchefts came to the Academy in 1972 as an assistant National Hockey League with the Chicago Blackhawks. coach to Heyliger for three seasons. He took over the head The 1938 graduate of Michigan began his coaching career coaching duties in 1974. In 11 seasons, Matchefts led the at the University of Illinois. In four seasons, he guided the Falcons to a 154-150-6 record from 1974-85. In his first sea- Illini to a 59-29-4 record. Heyliger, who was instrumental in son at Air Force, he led the Falcons to a remarkable 24-5-1 the development of the Western Collegiate Hockey Associa- record, the second-best mark in school history. He also paced tion, was named the National Collegiate Coach of the Year the Falcons to four winning seasons in his first five years. in 1953. After leaving Michigan in 1957, he remained active His 154 wins are tied with Chuck Delich as the second-most in hockey as he coached the USA National Team that com- career hockey coaching wins in AFA history. peted against the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. In 1962 and As an assistant coach, Matchefts went back to his home- 1963, Heyliger coached West Germany in the World Cham- town to recruit a player who was overlooked by nearly every pionships and later coached Team USA at the 1966 World other Division I school. Four years later, Chuck Delich be- Championships. came Air Force’s all-time leading scorer and one of the most He was elected to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame potent offensive players in NCAA history.