Air Force hockey head coach Frank Serratore had high praise for the state of collegiate hockey.

“College hockey has never been older, it’s never been deeper, it’s never been better. With that fifth year, Covid, the transfer portal, people being able to stack money, college hockey is deeper and better than it’s ever been,” he said on Wednesday.

Serratore also said that more than a third of players in the NHL are coming from the collegiate level. With only 60 Division-i programs, that’s a relatively small pool of players producing a lot of professional talent, he added.

While it’s great for the game, it can make it more difficult on Serratore and the Falcons, who are coming off a forgettable 12-22-2 campaign a year ago. The result isn’t one Serratore can live with, regardless of the strength of college hockey.

Air Force finished the season on a five-game losing streak and with a 8-17-1 conference record, placing them in the basement of the Atlantic Hockey Association.

“There’s a fine line between winning and losing. We have to be hitting on all cylinders in order to win with consistency at this level at this point,” he said. “Last year with the injuries that we sustained, we just weren’t able to maintain a high level of consistency.

We didn’t have a bad team. There were no bad teams in our league, but we finished in last place. ... And that’s unacceptable.”

Last year’s result stings considering the Falcons played in the AHA championship against American International College at the conclusion of the 20212022 season and returned most of the team from last year.

Thta is a moot point for Serratore now.

“You’re only as good as your last shift and our last shift wasn’t as good as we would have liked it to be,” he said.

With just under two weeks until the Falcons host Lindenwood in their season-opening series, Oct. 7-8, Serratore is preaching a clean canvas for the season to his team, asking his players to control what they can control in their attitudes and work ethic.

Serratore expects “a veteran-laden” lineup in the team’s first game against Lindenwood with some of Air Force’s incoming 11 freshman playing as well. Beyond that first opportunity, Serratore said the upperclassman will have to earn their right to stay on the ice.

“There’s going to be some freshmen in the lineup, but it’s going to be mostly a veteran-laden lineup on that first Saturday,” he said. “Those veteran players, they’ve earned that opportunity, they deserve that opportunity and then it’s going to be up to them to play well enough to maintain that status and become a staple and an every night player for us.”

One veteran embroiled in competition is senior netminder Maiszon Balboa. The Colorado Springs local got his first career start and win with Air Force last year. He made 13 appearances with 10 starts. Following a season-ending injury to then sophomore Guy Blessing, Balboa rotated in with Austin Park for the remainder of the year. Balboa recorded a 4-6-0 record, a 3.07 goals against average and a .894 save percentage last season.

This season, the Falcons’ goaltending landscape has changed a bit. Park graduated in May, Blessing, now a junior, returned from injury and Air Force brought in two freshmen goaltenders in Dominik Wasik and Carter Clafton.

“We got a tight-knit group always, even with the two freshmen coming in this year. We were quick to induct them into goalie nation, that’s what we call it,” Balboa said. “Obviously, we’re in a little bit different situation here where our scholarships don’t depend on how successful we are. So we all have that tight camaraderie knowing that no matter who’s gonna play, we’re going to get it done. But having said that, the competition on the ice has been fantastic during this preseason. Every time the goalies get out, we’re all out there to play as hard as we can, earn that spot. And at the end of the day, it’s all about giving coach, our teammates especially, no doubt in their minds who they’re going to start.”

Serratore said that if there is one goaltender who has the résumé to take on and challenge Blessing for the job it’s Balboa, citing the senior’s game experience and the fact that he’s older. Barring any injuries or setbacks, the Falcons’ goaltender in that opening Oct. 7 game will be Blessing or Balboa.

But regardless of who gets the start, each opportunity to put on Air Force blue is special for Balboa as he received his first-ever ice skating lesson from his dad as a young child, going blue line to blue line at Cadet Ice Arena.

“All of us just have such pride in putting on an Air Force jersey and wearing that American Flag on our shoulder,” Balboa said. “We play for something bigger than ourselves at the end of the day, which I don’t think you get at a lot schools and it’s so special to me playing at Cadet Ice Arena and putting on an Air Force jersey. It’s indescribable.”