Army Black Knights men's ice hockey

The Army Black Knights men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents the United States Military Academy. The Black Knights are members of Atlantic Hockey America and play at the Tate Rink in West Point, New York. They are one of seven teams to have never played in the NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament.

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.Army Men's Hockey 2010–2011 History :: Statistics :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online. USCHO.com (October 13, 2011). Retrieved on October 22, 2011. 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 to 1962 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 would not remain for long and left the conference in 1990. The Cadets joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), 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.Atlantic Hockey : ATLANTIC HOCKEY HISTORY. Atlantichockeyonline.com. Retrieved on October 22, 2011.

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.Army Men's Hockey 2007–2008 Team :: Statistics :: USCHO.com :: U.S. College Hockey Online. USCHO.com (October 13, 2011). Retrieved on October 22, 2011. Took the No. 1 seed into the Atlantic Hockey playoffs and swept (#10) 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 (#5) Mercyhurst 2–4.Welcome to. Collegehockeystats.net (February 12, 2005). Retrieved on October 22, 2011.

Shortly after the end of the 2023–24 season, the Atlantic Hockey Association merged with College Hockey America, a women-only league with which it had shared a commissioner and office staff since 2010. The merged league became Atlantic Hockey America.

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 (RMC) Paladins. It is considered one of the longest-running annual international sporting events in the world.Crowly, R, and Guinzburg, T: "West Point: Two Centuries of Honor and Tradition" (), page 234. Warner Books, 2002.

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.The 75th Army-RMC Game Set For Saturday Night :: Black Knights and goalie Brad Roberts go for four in a row. Cstv.com. Retrieved on October 22, 2011. 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.Greg Gillespie Go army! beat RMC? the history of the United States military academy-royal military college of Canada hockey rivalry International Journal of the History of Sport, Volume 17, Issue March 1, 2000, pages 94 – 112 In 1924 the series moved to Kingston, Ontario (the location of RMC), 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.

Season-by-season results

All-time coaching records As of the end of the 2025–26 season. Tenure Coach Years Record Pct. 1903–1904 Edward Leonard King 1 5–1–0 1904–1907 Robert Foy 3 15–8–0 1907–1910 George Russell 3 5–7–4 1910–1912 LeRoy Bartlett 2 3–4–1 1912–1914 Philip Gordon 2 7–6–0 1914–1917 Frank Purdon 3 9–10–1 1917–1918 Joseph Viner 1 6–3–0 1918–1920 Philip Day 2 6–4–1 1920–1923 Talbot Hunter 3 12–12–2 1923–1943 Ray Marchand 20 76–106–9 1943–1944 John Hines 1 5–4–0 1944–1945 Robert Lutz 1 7–2–1 1945–1950 Len Patten 5 33–35–2 1950–1986 Jack Riley 36 542–343–20 1988–2004 Rob Riley 18 257–288–33 2004–2025 Brian Riley 21 258–379–94 2025–Present Zach McKelvie 1 12–17–6 Totals 17 coaches 123 seasons 1,258–1,229–174

Awards

U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame The following individuals have been inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

Jack Riley (1979, 2000†)

† As the coach of the 1960 Olympic team.

IIHF Hall of Fame The following individuals have been inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame.

Jack Riley (1998)

Army Sports Hall of Fame The following individuals have been inducted into the Army Sports Hall of Fame.

Jack Riley (2004)

Lester Patrick Award The following individuals have been awarded the Lester Patrick Award.

Jack Riley (1986, 2002)

NCAA

Individual awards

Spencer Penrose Award Jack Riley (1957, 1960)

Lowes' Senior CLASS Award Cheyne Rocha (2013)

Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award Chase Podsiad (2008)

NCAA Scoring Champion David Merhar (1969)

All-Americans AHCA First Team All-Americans 2024–25: Mac Gadowsky, D

AHCA Second Team All-Americans 2007–08: Josh Kassel, G 2020–21: Trevin Kozlowski, G; Colin Bilek, F 2021–22: Colin Bilek, F

MAAC

Individual awards

Offensive Player of the Year Chris Casey (2002)

Goaltender of the Year Brad Roberts (2003)

Defensive Rookie of the Year Brad Roberts (2003)

All–MAAC teams First Team

Brad Roberts (2003)

Second Team

Joe Dudek (2003)

Rookie Team

Chris Casey (2002) Brad Roberts (2003)

Atlantic Hockey Association

Individual awards

Player of the Year Josh Kassel: 2008

Rookie of the Year Tyler Pham: 2015 Lincoln Hatten: 2021 Max Itagaki: 2023

Best Defenseman Zach McKelvie: 2008 Alexander Wilkinson: 2018

Individual Sportsmanship Award Chris Garceau: 2005 Zak Zaremba: 2015 Ryan Nick: 2017 Alex Wilkinson: 2020 Daniel Haider: 2022

Regular Season Scoring Trophy Colin Bilek: 2022

Regular Season Goaltending Award Josh Kassel: 2008 Trevin Kozlowski: 2021

Coach of the Year Brian Riley: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2021

All-Atlantic Hockey Teams First Team

Josh Kassel (2008) Zach McKelvie (2008, 2009) Luke Flicek (2008) Owen Meyer (2009) Alexander Wilkinson (2018) Trevin Kozlowski (2021) Thomas Farrell (2021) Colin Bilek (2021, 2022)

Second Team

Brad Roberts (2006) Tim Manthey (2006, 2007) Josh Kassel (2007) Owen Meyer (2008) Marcel Alvarez (2010, 2011) Cody Omilusik (2010) Parker Gahagen (2016, 2017) Michael Wilson (2018) Dalton MacAfee (2019) Dominic Franco (2020) John Zimmerman (2021) Gavin Abric (2022) Anthony Firriolo (2022) Joey Baez (2023, 2024)

Third Team

Luke Flicek (2007) Cody Omilusik (2011) John Keranen (2023)

Rookie Team

Tim Manthey (2006) Owen Meyer (2007) Marcel Alvarez (2009) Joe Kozlak (2013) C. J. Reuschlein (2014) Tyler Pham (2015) Alexander Wilkinson (2017) Dominic Franco (2017) John Zimmerman (2018) Anthony Firriolo (2020) Lincoln Hatten (2021) Max Itagaki (2023) Mac Gadowsky (2024)

Atlantic Hockey America Individual awards

Goaltender of the Year J. J. Cataldo (2026)

Best Defenseman Mac Gadowsky (2025)

Individual Sportsmanship Award Mac Gadowsky (2025)

All-Conference teams First Team All-Atlantic Hockey America

2024–25: Mac Gadowsky, D 2025–26: J. J. Cataldo, G

Second Team All-Atlantic Hockey America

2025–26: Jack Ivey, F

All-Atlantic Hockey America Rookie Team

2024–25: Jack Ivey, F

Statistical leaders

Career scoring leaders

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes Player Years GP G A PTS PIMDave Rost 1973–1977 104 226 330 Tom Rost 1976–1980 118 169 287 284George Clark 1971–1975 153 113 266 Jim Knowlton 1978–1982 90 172 262 David Merhar 1966–1969 112 117 229 Robbie Craig 1980–1984 86 135 221 Ed Collazzo 1979–1983 93 104 197 Frank Keating 1978–1982 65 131 196 Dan Cox 1979–1983 61 133 194 Biff Shea 1981–1985 68 120 188

Career goaltending leaders

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Minimum 35 games Player Years GP MIN W L T GA SO SV% GAATrevin Kozlowski 2017–2021 65 3865 36 21 6 142 3 .911 2.18Jack Shepard 1960–1963 .920 2.20Neil Meiras 1961–1964 .896 2.28Parker Gahagen 2013–2017 110 6372 41 49 16 255 10 .926 2.40Josh Kassel 2005–2009 77 4415 37 31 7 181 8 .909 2.46 Statistics current through the start of the 2022-23 season.

Roster As of July 31, 2025.

Olympians This is a list of Army alumni were a part of an Olympic team.

Name Position Army Tenure Team Year Finish Lawrence Palmer Goaltender 1956–1959 USA 1960

Black Knights in the NHL

As of July 1, 2025.

Player Position Team(s) Years Dan HinoteCenter , STL1999–20091

See also Army Black Knights

References

External links