It’s one-and-done hockey from now on for Air Force.

“One and done was tonight,” coach Frank Serratore said after Sunday’s 8-1 win over Sacred Heart in deciding Game 3 of the Atlantic Hockey Association Tournament quarterfinals. “Next week is the same thing. … You’re a day late with that question.”

Not when you consider that the question was: Does one-and-done change anything?

Serratore takes his team to Rochester, N.Y., for Friday’s single-elimination semifinal against Bentley and is trying to cast the Falcons in the role of underdog. He’ll find few takers.

“I don’t like any of the matchups,” he said. “RIT has been the hottest team in the league. Second has been Mercyhurst; the third-hottest team has been Bentley.”

But ponder the original question. The real answer was on the ice Sunday, when the Falcons had two goals before the Pioneers had one shot. It was a game where Air Force called a timeout late in the second period, up 6-1, in part because it had a line of sick players. The final shots finished 51-15.

“We talked about it a lot before the game,” captain Mike Phillipich said. “It’s always important for us to get the first goal. … We feed off the emotion of those goals.”

Read between the lines. After a winter of getting by largely on talent, the Falcons finally played with the purpose that can win a championship.

Saturday’s 4-1 loss in Game 2 was a two-by-four upside the head. A defibrillation of the heart. A knee to the ego.

Sunday night was a reminder of the season’s first 13 games – Air Force won them all, in case you forgot – and why the Falcons were picked to win the league title.

“We’re feeling it a little bit, but that’s to be expected,” senior Greg Flynn said about having to play a third game in a row, “but we do a good job of taking care of ourselves and conditioning throughout the season has really paid off.”

That might include their emotional conditioning, too. When the Falcons lost games in December to Denver and RIT, they were buffeted by the 13-0 start. When they were in a funk in January, they still had the league lead for most of the time. When they lost the first game of showdown weekend at RIT in February, they had the  next game to earn a share of the regular-season title and top seed for the playoffs.

But, starting Sunday night, their next loss was their last one.

So Phillipich’s ankle suddenly got better. The line of Jeff Hajner, Matt Fairchild and Derrick Burnett played despite the flu. Blake Page overcame a separated shoulder. Brent Olson scored a hat trick, Flynn had four points and Jacques Lamoureux and Josh Frider had three each.

And while anything can happen in one hockey game, Air Force reasserted why it is going for its third straight tournament title and NCAA berth.

“It’s never bad to be challenged with adversity and overcoming it,” Serratore said.

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