This time last year the Air Force hockey team was preparing for a one-game playoff. Win and it would earn a trip to Rochester, N.Y., where it would play for the chance to represent the Atlantic Hockey Association in the NCAA Tournament. This time last year, forward Eric Ehn was leading the Falcons and much of the college hockey world. He was being touted as a Hobey Baker candidate. Given the other two finalists, Ehn should�ve won the award, too. The Falcons had lost five consecutive games last February before winning three in a row to force that one-game playoff against Holy Cross. Including the Holy Cross game, the Falcons won six consecutive games to win the conference title and make it to NCAA Tournament. The Falcons were hot then. They found a keeper in long and lanky freshman goalie Andrew Volkening. They were getting numerous contributions from players not named Ehn. They were stunning Minnesota and the rest of college hockey as they had Minnesota down 3-1 in the third period of the tournament�s opening round. Fast forward a year. The Falcons don�t have Ehn, who has been out with a fractured left fibula, including ligament damage to the right ankle, suffered Jan.19 against Colorado College. Ehn has little, if any chance of playing anymore this season. But the Falcons are better this year. Yes, no Ehn, yet the Falcons are better heading into this weekend�s AHA playoff round against Bentley. Something strange happens sometimes when a team�s star goes down. Coaches like to talk about other players needing to �step up.� This time, they actually did � eventually. �When you lose a guy like that, the culture of your team changes,� Falcons coach Frank Serratore said. �It took us a while to recover from that.� Ehn was instrumental on the Falcons� power play. Same goes for when there were four-on-four skates. Ehn was a star who did grunt work � a working man�s champ. Air Force played Army the two games after Ehn�s injury. The Falcons lost both games 2-1. However, that was a confused Falcons team, a team trying to find its way during the multiplied emotions of playing a conference foe and service academy rival. Other players had to become champs, too. Forwards Jeff Hajner, Matt Fairchild and Derrick Burnett picked up their scoring as did defenseman Greg Flynn. Between the three of them � they make up the Falcons� top line � they�ve scored 36 points since the CC game. The Falcons are better because of those players and others. Stop one person, and another comes from another direction with another set of equally adept skills. It�s difficult to stop them all, impossible to stop them simultaneously. �The past five games, we�re unbeaten,� Hajner said. �That�s the way you want to go into the playoffs. �I think we�re getting into that playoff mode.� Saturday�s 5-0 rout of American International should serve as notice of that. Sure, AIC is the conference�s worst team. But the Falcons jumped on the Yellow Jackets the way a better team should have. Four goals in the first period were enough to kill any will AIC had. But the Falcons didn�t stop. The home team continued peppering the Yellow Jackets, outshooting them 38-19. �The key for us is we haven�t played like that with consistency,� Serratore said. �But we�ve put ourselves where we want to be.� And where the Falcons are is two victories away from the same place they were last year. But this year, they�re better. Contact Bryant at 636-0252 or milo.bryant@gazettedev.gazette.com. See his blog at milobryant.blogspot.com or catch him on KOAA�s Comcast Channel 9 most Wednesdays at 4 p.m.

Colorado College goaltender Richard Bachman, an aspiring musician, often listens to O.A. R. before games and sings to himself during lulls in games. Photo by KEVIN KRECK, THE GAZETTE FILE