Army Black Knights men's ice hockey


The Army Black Knights men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college ice hockey program that represents the United States Military Academy. The Black Knights are a member of Atlantic Hockey and play at the Tate Rink in West Point, New York.

History

The men's ice hockey program at West Point has been in existence since the 1903–04 season. The team played outdoors until 1930 when the Smith Rink opened. The team competed as independent members of NCAA Division I from the inaugural season through the 1960–61 season. In 1961 the program became a founding member of the ECAC. The team, known at the time as the Army Cadets, played as members of the ECAC from 1961–62 season through the 1972–73 season before dropping their program to Division II status when the NCAA instituted numerical divisions. The Cadets would remain there until 1980 when they rejoined the ECAC as an associate member. Army became a full ECAC member in 1984 in the aftermath of the Hockey East schism but the Cadets wouldn't remain for long and left the conference in 1990. The Cadets joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, which began sponsoring men's hockey at the time, in 1999 and in 2001 the team name was changed to Army Black Knights along with the other athletic programs at the Academy. In 2003, the MAAC's ice hockey division split off and became the Atlantic Hockey Association, a hockey-only NCAA Division I conference.
In 2007–08 season the Black Knights won their only conference title to date, the Atlantic Hockey Regular Season Championship. In that season the Knights finished with an overall record of 19 wins, 14 losses, and 4 ties and went 17–8–3 in conference play. Took the No. 1 seed into the Atlantic Hockey playoffs and swept American Int'l two games to none in the three game first round series. The Black Knight's season came to an end in the semifinal game when they lost to Mercyhurst 2–4.
Since 1950, the Cadets/Black Knights have been coached by a member of the Riley family. Jack Riley, best known for leading the United States to the gold medal at the 1960 Winter Olympics, coached at West Point from 1950 to 1986. He handed the reins to his son Rob in 1986, who in turn handed coaching duties to his younger brother Brian in 2004.

Army–RMC rivalry

The Army Black Knights have a long-standing rivalry with the Royal Military College of Canada Paladins. It is considered one of the longest-running annual international sporting events in the world.
The tradition originated when the commandant of RMC, Sir Archibald McDonnell, and the superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur, suggested a game of ice hockey between the two schools in 1921. After two years of exchanging ideas, the first game was played on February 23, 1923 at West Point. The Redmen won that first game 3–0. In 1924 the series moved to Kingston, Ontario, thus beginning the tradition of rotating venues. This was Army's first away game and up until 1941, the West Point Game was the only time that Army played away from the Academy.
From 1923 to 1935 RMC ran up a record of 14–0–1, the only blemish being a 4–4 tie in 1935. 1939 saw Army win its first game, 3–1. As a result of World War II, only one game was played, a 3–1 Army win in 1942, over the next 10 years.
In the 1950s and 1960s Army won 15 of 20 games, bringing the series close with RMC holding a 21–18–1 advantage. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the teams played fairly closely. In 1986 the record stood at 26–25–4 in favor of RMC.
From 1988 to 1999, Army dominated the rivalry, going undefeated. RMC last won in 2002 by a score of 3–0 and Army won in 2004, 3–2.
The 2006 game was a 3–3 tie in front of 3100 fans in Kingston. Currently Army leads the Series 39–29–7.
The game was played continually after the World War II years, from 1949 until 2007. The 2007 edition of the rivalry was to take place on Saturday Feb 10, at Tate Arena in West Point, New York, but was cancelled due to regular season scheduling conflicts and for 2008 the teams will not play a competitive game but instead the Paladins will travel to New York to spend 3 days practicing, playing and socializing with the West Point cadets.
The series was re-established on February 4, 2011, with Army hosting the Paladins at West Point. This rivalry will continue on an annual basis, counting as an exhibition game for both teams.

Season-by-season results

All-time coaching records

As of April 10, 2020
TenureCoachYearsRecordPct.
2004–PresentBrian Riley16189–294–81
1988–2004Rob Riley18257–288–33
1950–1986Jack Riley36542–343–20
1945–1950Len Patten533–35–2
1944–1945Robert Lutz17–2–1
1943–1944John Hines15–4–0
1923–1943Ray Marchand2076–106–9
1920–1923Talbot Hunter312–12–2
1918–1920Philip Day26–4–1
1917–1918Joseph Viner16–3–0
1914–1917Frank Purdon39–10–1
1912–1914Philip Gordon27–6–0
1910–1912LeRoy Bartlett23–4–1
1907–1910George Russell35–7–4
1904–1907Robert Foy315–8–0
1903–1904Edward Leonard King15–1–0
Totals16 coaches117 seasons1177-1127-155

Awards

U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

The following individuals have been inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
† As the coach of the 1960 Olympic team.

IIHF Hall of Fame

The following individuals have been inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame.
The following individuals have been inducted into the Army Sports Hall of Fame.
The following individuals have been awarded the Lester Patrick Award.
The following individuals have been awarded the Spencer Penrose Award.
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Second Team

The following Army Black Knights men's ice hockey players have been chosen as Second Team Division I All-Americans by the American Hockey Coaches Association.

First Team

The following Army Black Knights men's ice hockey players have been chosen as First Team All-MAAC.

First Team

The following Army Black Knights men's ice hockey players have been chosen as First Team All-Atlantic Hockey.
played for Colorado and St. Louis over the course of 9 years, winning the Stanley Cup in 2001.

Statistical Leaders

Career Scoring leaders

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
''''''
Dave Rost1973–1977104226330
Tom Rost1976–1980118169287284
George Clark1971–1975153113266
Jim Knowlton1978–198290172262
Dave Merhar1966–1969112117229
Robbie Craig1980–198486135221
Ed Collazzo1979–198393104197
Frank Keating1978–198265131196
Dan Cox1979–198361133194
Biff Shea1981–198568120188

Career Goaltending Leaders

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
Minimum 35 games
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Jack Sheppard1960–1963.9202.20
Neil Meiras1961–196452.28
Parker Gahagen2013–2017110637225510.9262.40
Josh Kassel2005–20097744151818.9092.46
Ron Chisholm1959–19628.9052.53

Statistics current through the start of the 2017-18 season.

Roster

As of July 1, 2019.