After Air Force hockey blew the second of three chances to win a league
championship Feb. 24, coach Frank Serratore gave a bland postgame
speech.
He complained to the players about the poor power play in the loss and them not scoring enough goals.
Like just about everything with Serratore, it was just part of a bigger plan.
When the Falcons got to the hotel, everyone got up to exit the bus. Serratore was the only coach there.
“Sit down,” Serratore announced.
Serratore has taken the Air Force hockey program to unforeseen
heights in his 15 years as coach. He’s a good hockey tactician, but he
has lifted the Falcons mostly through the sheer force of his massive
personality. He can be charming, funny and brutally honest in the same
conversation. But he always knows exactly what he’s doing.
The players sat back down.
Most of his speech wasn’t suited for children. He told the players he
was angry. He said he was not angry with them. He was mad that Air
Force was down to its last chance, needing to win its regular-season
finale at Robert Morris to take the Atlantic Hockey Association title.
“You know what we’re doing tomorrow?” Serratore told them. “One thing
we ain’t doing is video. We don’t need video. What do we want to look
at video for? Make people feel bad? We don’t have time to feel bad. We
have to win a game tomorrow.”
He told the players when they stepped off the bus, they were to
forget that loss. He finished by telling his team, in more of the
colorful language Serratore slips into, that they were going to beat
Robert Morris on Saturday night, and then they were all going to
celebrate their championship.
The players erupted. Robert Morris had no chance the next night. Air
Force won 3-0. The Falcons celebrated, just like he planned. They host
an AHA quarterfinal series starting Friday vs. Connecticut.
“You have to have the ability to motivate players,” Serratore said.
“There’s times that's all you have. That’s all we had Saturday night. I
couldn’t play any other card. I had to go fire those guys up. We had to
go take our swing. There was not enough time to tear them down and build
them back up.”
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