College hockey: Army announces 2022-23 schedule - here's who is on it
Army will play a traditional slate of non-league contests for the 2022-23 hockey season, in addition to visits by newest NCAA Division I member Lindenwood and the United States National Team Development Program.
The 120th season of intercollegiate hockey at West Point begins Oct. 2 when Union College visits Take Rink for an afternoon contest.
Non-league foes include Dartmouth, Lindenwood, the USNTDP and Providence at home, plus RPI, New Hampshire and Yale on the road.
Once again, Army and host Rochester Institute of Technology will open Atlantic Hockey Association play on Oct. 7-8.
The Black Knights will face only one NCAA tournament participant – three-time defending league playoff champion American International visits West Point on Oct. 28 and Jan. 17. Service-academy rival Air Force visits on Jan. 27-28, the first matchup since the Falcons swept Army in the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals in March.
"It is still a challenging schedule,'' said head coach Brian Riley, "especially how our league has so much parity in it now.''
Lindenwood, based in St. Charles, Missouri, announced its decision to join the Division I ranks in March. The Lions will compete as an independent. Last season, Lindenwood captured the club-level American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I title – a handful of those players are expected to join new recruits and college transfers. Riley believes the Lions will be very competitive.
The USNTDP is the feeder program for USA Hockey and fields under-17 and under-18 teams that compete in the United States Hockey League. Army will face the older squad, which plays a host of Division I schools each season. Most of these players are already committed to play for major Division I programs following their two-year stay and will move on to the pros. Riley said he's been trying to set up this inaugural matchup for a number of years. "It'll be a real treat for our fans to see,'' he said.
The 20th season of play in the Atlantic Hockey Association will feature a new playoff format. The ninth- and tenth-place finishers will not participate – all members had been included in the post-season since the inception in 2003-04. Instead, the top eight seeds meet in a best-of-three quarterfinal series and the four survivors will be paired up in a first-time best-of-three semifinal series. The championship will be a one-game playoff. Riley is adamantly against the new format, saying all league members should be allowed in the tournament due to the unbalanced nature of the schedules and the idea of teams pulling off a Cinderella playoff run.
Army was 14-17-4 last season and tied for third in Atlantic Hockey (12-11-3) with 41 points. The Black Knights dropped two overtime games to Air Force in the 2022 quarterfinals. Army lost six seniors to graduation, including former All-American Colin Bilek, who recently signed with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. Bilek will play for the AHL's Manitoba Moose. The new recruits should be announced soon.
Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
2022-23 schedule
October
Sun. 2 – vs. Union (14-19-4, 9-11-2 ECAC, 7th place), 4 p.m.; Fri. 7 – at RIT* (18-16-4, 12-11-2 AHA, 3rd); Sat. 8 – at RIT*; Sat. 15 – at RPI (18-23-3, 10-12-0 ECAC, 6th); Fri. 21 – at New Hampshire (14-19-1, 8-15-1 Hockey East, 9th); Sun. 23 – vs. U.S. National Team Development Program, 2 p.m.; Fri. 28 – vs. AIC* (22-12-3, 17-7-2 AHA, 1st), 7 p.m.; Sun. 30 – vs. Dartmouth (7-22-3, 5-15-2 ECAC, 11th), 2 p.m.
November
Fri. 4 – vs. Lindenwood, 7 p.m.; Sat. 5 – vs. Lindenwood, 4 p.m.; Fri. 18 – vs. Bentley* (14-20-2, 10-14-2 AHA, 9th), 7 p.m.; Sat. 19 – vs. Bentley*, 7 p.m.; Fri. 25 – at Canisius* (16-16-3, 13-11-2 AHA, 2nd), Sat. 26 – at Canisius*
December
Fri. 2 – vs. Niagara* (11-22-3, 10-13-3 AHA, 8th), 7 p.m.; Sat. 3 – vs. Niagara*, 4 p.m.; Fri. 9 – at Mercyhurst* (16-19-4, 10-12-4 AHA, 7th); Sat. 10 – at Mercyhurst*
January
Sun. 1 – at Yale (8-21-1, 7-14-1 ECAC, 12th); Thur. 5 – at Sacred Heart* (15-18-4, 11-12-3 AHA, 5th); Sun. 8 – vs. Providence (22-14-2, 12-11-1 Hockey East, 7th), 2 p.m.; Fri. 13 – vs. Canisius*, 7 p.m.; Sat. 14 – vs. Canisius*, 4 p.m.; Tues. 17 – vs. AIC*, 7 p.m.; Fri. 27 – vs. Air Force* (16-17-3, 11-12-3 AHA, 6th), 7 p.m.; Sat. 28 – vs. Air Force*, 4 p.m.
February
Fri. 3 – at Niagara*; Sat. 4 – at Niagara*; Tues. 7 – at Sacred Heart*; Fri. 10 – vs. Holy Cross* (12-23-2, 10-14-2 AHA, 10th), 7 p.m.; Sat. 11 – vs. Holy Cross*, 4 p.m.; Fri. 17 – vs. Mercyhurst*, 7 p.m.; Sat. 18 – vs. Mercyhurst*, 4 p.m.; Fri. 24 – at Bentley*; Sat. 25 – at Bentley*
March
Fri. 3-Sun. 5 – Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals (best of 3 at higher seed); Fri. 10-Sun. 12 – Atlantic Hockey semifinals (best of 3 at higher seed); Sat. 18 – Atlantic Hockey championship
All home games at West Point’s Tate Rink; asterisk marks Atlantic Hockey contest; last season’s overall and league records are in parenthesis
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: NCAA ice hockey: Army West Point announces 2022-23 schedule
