The two area college hockey programs enter this season with different levels of expectations and both anxious to find out if the preseason prognosticators were correct.

Colorado College coach Mike Haviland hopes the lessons learned last season with 12 freshmen, including five defensemen, playing every game will pay dividends this season despite having the Tigers (6-29-1 last season) picked last in the eight-team National Collegiate Hockey Conference by league media.

“We are a team that is in a rebuild and things are going in the right direction,” Haviland told a crowd of about 350 at the Colorado Springs Sports Corp. Face-off Luncheon at the Colorado Springs Marriott Hotel. “The growth in the second half was tremendous and we hope that carries over into this year.”

Air Force was picked second in the Atlantic Hockey Conference preseason coaches poll. That reflects the returning talent and the strong season the Falcons (20-12-5 last season) enjoyed last season despite being picked seventh.

“I don’t know what we have but we have a lot of it,” Frank Serratore said of the team’s depth. “We have five lines and I can only play four. We have eight defensemen and two proven goalies. Academy teams tend to do better in the role of underdog than as a favorite so we’ll see.”

The luncheon had a somber moment when USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean reminded the crowd of three deceased giants – former USA Hockey head Walter L. Bush, Jr., former CC great Andy Gambucci, and 1948 and 1960 Olympian Jack Kirrane — the hockey world lost in the past week.

Both coaches reached out to their fan bases to try to fill the arenas this season with Serratore doing so in the way the coach, entering his 20th season at the Falcons helm, has for years – with a joke.

“We have a wall around the academy – it isn’t a Trump wall – and it isn’t to keep you out,” Serratore told the crowd. “It’s to keep the freshmen in. So come on out and watch the games. You’ll enjoy watching them.”