The Home of Falcons Hockey

One of the three sporting venues in the Cadet Field House is the 2,600-seat Cadet Ice Rink.  ----more----

Like the other facilities in the huge building, it saw its first use in 1968 -- May fourth, to be precise -- when Olympic gold medal winner Peggy Fleming skated at the dedication.  The primary tenant of the rink, as you might imagine, is the Falcon ice hockey team.  The first game on the rink was an 8-6 victory over the Colorado All-Stars, a collection of former collegians, in an exhibition game played on November twenty-ninth, 1968.  During the first shift of the first period of that game, before the safety nets were put up, a puck went over the boards, through the “shatter-proof” glass and onto the running track in the multi-purpose area.  The first intercollegiate game was an 8-1 loss to Notre Dame in December 1968, while the first intercollegiate victory came against Ohio State the following month, by the score of 6-4. Since then, the hockey team has enjoyed remarkable success, with seven trips to the NCAA tournament.  Air Force was the first-ever service Academy team to earn an NCAA bid.  Decorating the south end of the arena are murals honoring six of the Academy’s best-ever hockey players.  One honoree is my ’77 classmate, Chuck Delich, who still holds the NCAA record for most goals in a career, with 156.

 

 

 

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