Ehn flying high at Air Force Academy (by Antoine Pitts - Ann Arbor News Staff)

EHN FLYING HIGH AT AIR FORCE ACEDEMY

Dexter grad possible candidate for Hobey Baker Award

BY ANTOINE PITTS, Ann Arbor News Sports Reporter

At home during the holiday break last month, Eric Ehn's friends kiddingly wondered if he was really still playing hockey. He is, and he's doing it quite well at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Ehn, who graduated from Dexter High School in 2002, has led the nation in scoring much of this season, putting himself in the talk for the Hobey Baker Award, which goes to college hockey's top player. "Even to be mentioned for that is just an honor, and I'm flattered,'' said Ehn, who turns 23 on Sunday. "I'm thankful for the opportunities that college hockey's given me this year.''  Ehn, a junior center, has 19 goals and 26 assists for a 1.73 points-per-game average. Second in national scoring is Michigan's T.J. Hensick at 1.58 points per game. Ehn was Air Force's most valuable player a season ago, with 35 points, and earned second-team All-Conference honors in Atlantic Hockey.

Not overly big, at 5 feet, 9 inches and 175 pounds, or overly fast, Ehn said his game has improved because of all of his experiences along the way. He played in Detroit-area AAA programs before winning a junior B national championship with the Metro Jets of  Waterford in 2002.  Then he played junior A in Lansing and Green Bay, which helped showcase him to colleges. Ehn received minimal  interest from any of the schools in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, but Air Force coach Frank Serratore was after him for two years to get him out to Colorado Springs. "Eric is a very special young man,'' Serratore said. "He understands the game like a coach, and he's got instincts like only the elite players in the game have.''  Ehn, who Serratore said sees the game in slow motion, wins an astounding 65 percent of his faceoffs and has a plus-20 plus/minus rating. In a "Hobey Watch'' weekly poll done by CSTV, Ehn, who has points in 21 of 26 games, ranks sixth.  He has put the Falcons in contention for the Atlantic Hockey title.

"I'm having a great time with the guys on the team,'' Ehn said. "Every day going to the rink feels like the best day of my life.'' Ehn has goals against major opponents such as Colorado College and Denver, and played well in a shutout loss to Notre Dame. Ehn, a systems engineering major, enjoys the structured life that's part of attending a service academy. Breakfast is served at 7:30 a.m. He attends as many as four classes a day between 8 a.m. and noon, when it's time to march to lunch. Afternoons are for hockey practice, and evening is study time. Following graduation, he'll have a five-year minimum service requirement. While it isn't unheard of for academy graduates to play pro sports, Ehn said he hasn't even thought of the possibility, considering that's more than a year away.  Serratore said those kind of situations are handled by the military on a case-by-case basis. Given that the nation is at war, that could be complicated. Serratore predicts pro scouts, who have given the same not-good-enough analysis of Ehn as others before, could be the next to be wrong about him. "He's been the guy his whole career who has overcome the perceptions of the experts,'' Serratore said. "And now here he is as a Hobey Baker candidate.''