For the previous a number of weeks, the Air Pressure Falcons have not often ventured outdoors a small, contained loop – class, chow corridor, rink.
“It looks like Groundhog Day, virtually,” senior Jake Levin mentioned.
A reprieve is probably arising, although nobody’s pondering too far forward. As video games across the nation had been known as off, the Falcons continued to organize to journey to Massachusetts for a season opener towards AIC.
AIC gained the regular-season title for a second straight 12 months, whereas Air Pressure completed sixth in a shortened 2019-20 season.
The Yellow Jackets had a sport scheduled towards Quinnipiac on Nov. 24 but it surely was postponed. There have been six Atlantic Hockey video games on faucet this weekend as of Thursday. Military’s sequence with Sacred Coronary heart was postponed, as was Niagara’s with RIT. Air Pressure was one of many fortunate ones.
An elevated side of Levin’s job, together with fellow co-captain Zach Mirageas and alternate captains Alex Mehnert and Shawn Knowlton, has been checking in with a younger group as opening day got here and went and the isolation stretched on.
“It’s simply essential to see how everybody’s doing,” Knowlton mentioned. “Taking that further step goes a great distance for everybody.”
Mirageas known as this a “fairly unprecedented type of problem.”
“Me and the opposite three guys need to face it perhaps just a little extra head-on simply because we’re main a gaggle of 25, 26 different guys,” he mentioned. “We’ve bought to seek out methods to maintain them motivated.”
Ought to everybody keep wholesome and the schedule keep comparatively intact, that further month and a half of weight room time and on-ice work may have a optimistic impact. Many incoming Falcons need to regain the burden misplaced in primary coaching and for as soon as, that they had the time.
They’ve additionally been on the ice 5 or 6 days per week, at the very least 45 minutes at a time.
“That summer time in between freshman and sophomore 12 months has principally been the previous couple of months,” Levin mentioned. “I believe the incoming class is a step forward of the place we normally are.
“Can’t actually look previous the following week, however I believe we’re all wanting ahead to seeing the potential right here and seeing how far that may take us.”
As AIC drew nearer, the depth bumped up significantly.
“It’s a aid,” Levin mentioned. “We’ve put in quite a lot of work.
“I believe we’re positively very lucky to be the place we’re.”
“We wanna win championships,” Knowlton added. “However with these occasions, we all know that it’s bought to be day-to-day.”
