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charlie shub   University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
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Junior experience gives poise to AFA freshman
 
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By Steve Page
 
Dan Davies played defense for Sioux City, Iowa, the best team in the U.S.
Hockey League last season.
 
That junior club won the championship ahead of Des Moines, Iowa. The latter
team furnished four of its players (Brian Swanson, Scott Swanson, Darren
Clark and Brian Waldo) to Colorado College, the nation's second-ranked team.
 
"The scouts were saying this was one of the best junior teams ever," Davies
said. "All kinds of people were coming to look at us."
 
That included recruiters from the University of Illinois-Chicago and from
the Air Force Academy.
 
Davies chose the academy and its post-graduation commitment.
 
"It was an opportunity for a free education," the AFA freshman said
matter-of-factly Thursday as the Falcons prepared for this weekend's series
against Elmira (N.Y.) College. "It will give me a career after I graduate.
 
"It was a chance to play Division I hockey. And no, I didn't come here to be
a pilot. My eyes are too bad."
 
But according to coach Chuck Delich, Davies can see well enough to play
quality hockey.
 
"He plays with more poise than other freshmen because of his experience at
the junior level," Delich said. "He has all the things that give an
advantage to those guys who have junior players on their roster."
 
Davies is smart enough to know that Elmira, a Division III club, will be no
pushover.
 
"They have a good Division III team," said Davies, who can move people off
the puck with his 6-foot-1, 200-pound frame. "If we slack off and don't play
hard, they'll take two from us. We've just got to go out and play within
ourselves."
 
Davies, whose dad, David, played college hockey for the St. Louis Billikens,
says the sport gives him another life at the academy.
 
"Being a freshman, you don't get to go out much. You're pretty much
confined," he said. "Some days are better than others.
 
"It's kind of an escape down here. All you do is think about hockey. You
don't worry about what's going on up on the hill. This lets you release some
frustration and tension."
 
As would a victory.
 
The Falcons have three ties and three losses after their first six games.
 
"Getting that first win would put us on the right track," Davies said. "It's
been frustrating, because we haven't been scoring as much as we want. But if
we can get that first win, we'll be all right."
 
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