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. [2] The team competed as independent members of NCAA Division I from the inaugural season through the 1960–61 season. [3] In 1961 the program became a founding member of the ECAC. [3] 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 wouldn't 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. [3] In 2003, the MAAC's ice hockey division split off and became the Atlantic Hockey Association, a hockey-only NCAA Division I conference. [4]
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. [5] 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. [4] The Black Knight's season came to an end in the semifinal game when they lost to (#5) Mercyhurst 2–4. [6]
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. [7]
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. [8] [9]
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. [10] 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. [11] 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. [8] [9]
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