| Army Black Knights men's ice hockey | ||
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| University | United States Military Academy | |
| Conference | Atlantic Hockey | |
| Head coach | Brian Riley | |
| 7th year, 88–122–35 | ||
| Arena | Tate Rink Capacity: 2,746 |
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| Location | West Point, New York | |
| Colors | Black and Gold
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| Conference Regular Season Champions | ||
| 2007–08 | ||
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 a member of Atlantic Hockey and play at the Tate Rink in West Point, New York.
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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.[1] The team competed as independent members of NCAA Division I from the inaugural season through the 1960–61 season.[2] In 1961 the program became a member of the ECAC.[2] 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 returning to an independent team.[2] After another 11 seasons as an independent the Cadets re-joined the ECAC for the 1984–85 season.[2] The Cadets would remain in the ECAC for seven years before returning to an independent team in 1991.[2] 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.[2] In 2003 ice hockey was split from the MAAC and became the Atlantic Hockey Association, a hockey-only NCAA Division I conference.[3]
In 2007–2008 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.[4] 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.[5] The Black Knight's season came to an end in the semifinal game when they lost to (#5) Mercyhurst 2–4.[6]
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.[7][8]
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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[7][8]
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.[7]
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.[7]
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.[11] 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. [12]
The series has yet to be re-established mainly due to scheduling conflicts.[1]
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