This is not the end, though the end will be celebrated this weekend. Moms and dads will be in town, which guarantees at least a hug and a good meal.

But more than anything else on senior weekend, Air Force’s hockey players want four points.

“It’s senior night, but it’s not really senior night,” captain Mike Phillipich said in anticipation of tonight’s and Saturday night’s games against Holy Cross.

The Falcons (20-8-2, 17-5-2 Atlantic Hockey Association) trail league-leading Rochester Institute of Technology by one point heading into the weekend. The teams meet in Rochester, N.Y., next weekend.

But Air Force knows it can’t look past Holy Cross (10-15-5, 9-12-3), which trails Army by one point for sixth place, the last spot that avoids a play-in game to the best-of-three quarterfinals of the AHA playoffs. Air Force will host a quarterfinal series. Army, by the way, plays host to RIT this weekend.

“We need to go out there and win if we want to achieve one of our goals, which is to win the regular-season championship,” Phillipich said.

Saturday night, the five senior Falcons will hears cheers for two straight AHA tournament titles from what will be to be a sellout crowd. But the celebration might seem somewhat restrained.

For example, Phillipich’s parents will be in from Michigan, but his brothers are holding out for a trip to Rochester, they hope, for the AHA final four. Michael Mayra’s parents are coming from Alaska, but the family en masse is holding out for graduation.

Greg Flynn’s parents are holding out for playoffs, too, but mom will be in town and so will his brother. But brother Ryan will be occupied – he’ll be playing for Minnesota against Colorado College on the other end of town. They plan dinner Saturday night.

Also to be honored are seniors Josh Frider and Brent Olson.

“It’s a great experience. Your fans get to see you one last time, then playoffs,” Mayra said. “Basically, I’m just looking forward to the games.”

There are other distractions, too. The seniors learned their future base assignments at the end of last week.

“It’s kind of bittersweet, because you never want to have hockey end,” said Phillipich, who also plans to get married shortly after graduation. “I’m ready to take the next step of my life … but not ready to let go of this one.”

Said Flynn, “Playing against Holy Cross, there isn’t anything else I’d rather be doing.”

Saturday selloutThe game on Saturday is officially sold out. There were tickets available as of Thursday afternoon for today’s game at Cadet Ice Arena. Fans can bring any unused Air Force ticket to the ticket office tonight and receive a free general admission ticket to the game.

Air Force forward Mike Phillipich, center, Brent Olson and Greg Flynn are among five seniors that will be honored tonight at Cadet Ice Arena. Photo by KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE