Army Resumes League Play This Weekend

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army hockey team resumes league play this weekend with a home-and-home series with Sacred Heart, beginning on Friday night at Tate Rink. The second game of the weekend is set for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop at the Milford Ice Pavilion in Connecticut.

HOW TO FOLLOW
TELEVISION • None
RADIO • 1420 WLNA-AM/1260 WBNR-AM
VIDEO • EverSport.tv ($)
AUDIO • Knight Vision ($)
LIVE STATISTICS • FRIDAY sidearmstats.com/army/mhockey
LIVE STATISTICS • SATURDAY sacredheartpioneers.com
GAME NOTES • Army Notes
TICKETS • Hockey Tickets
TWITTER • @ArmyWP_Hockey

THIS WEEK: HOME-AND-HOME SERIES WITH SACRED HEART
For the second time in a month, the Pioneers and Black Knights will face each other in a home-and-home series. The last time the two met was the first weekend of December and Army earned the sweep with a 4-3 win at Sacred Heart on Dec. 4 and then returned home to defeat the Pioneers by a 5-2 score. The Pioneers were in action for the first time since that series on Jan. 2-3 against Niagara. They dominated in the first game with a 5-0 win at home and then finished off the sweep with a 2-1 overtime victory. The sweep ended an eight-game winless streak for Sacred Heart.

NEXT WEEK: THE RIVALRY CONTINUES
The biggest weekend of the regular season is just a week away as the Black Knights welcome its biggest rival Air Force for a pair of games. Friday night's game on Jan. 15 is set for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop, while Saturday's matchup is a 6:05 p.m. start. The Falcons enter this weekend with a 7-9-2 overall record and a 5-5-2 mark in conference play. They split a pair of games against Bentley over the holiday weekend with a 3-2 win on Jan. 2, but fell by a 5-3 decision on Jan. 3. Air Force welcomes American International for a pair on Friday and Saturday. The Falcons are 3-3-0 in their last six games.

LAST WEEK: FINAL NON-CONFERENCE GAME OF THE SEASON
Massachusetts scored 22 seconds into overtime to defeat the Army hockey team, 2-1, at Tate Rink last Saturday night. Army took the early lead in the first period with a power play goal from Joe Kozlak. Conor Andrle added his team-leading 11th assist of the season, while Mike Preston added the secondary helper. Cole Bruns earned his fourth start in net and was impressive with 33 saves, including 15 in the second period. It was the last non-conference game of the season for the Black Knights as they finished 2-2-0 against non-league opponents. All four games came against Hockey East Schools, and the highlight of the stretch was the 3-2 win over No. 20 Merrimack.

ON THE RADIO
Both games will be live on the radio in the Hudson Valley on 1260 WBNR-AM in Beacon and 1430 WLNA-AM in Peekskill. Zack Daly is on the call Friday night, while Nikolai Busko will be live at Sacred Heart. The games are also live on Knight Vision at GoArmyWestPoint.com.

LIVE STREAM THROUGH EVERSPORT
EverSport is back as the web stream provider of the Atlantic Hockey Association. Games throughout the season, both home and away, will be live on EverSport.tv by searching Atlantic Hockey. EverSport allows payment per game and season.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
The Black Knights played their final non-conference game of the season last Saturday against UMass and fell by a 2-1 score in overtime. Army finished 2-2-0 in non-league competition, which is the first time since 1999-2000 that it had a .500 or better record out of conference play.

NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
The yearling class has not seen a drop in numbers this season after leading the team last year in class points. The sophomores have 44 points of Army's 109 this season with 16 goals and 28 helpers on the year. Surprisingly, Conor Andrle is the only sophomore in the top six in scoring for the Black Knights, and each skater in the class has a point.

TAKING ADVANTAGE
The Army power play has been extremely effective this season as the Black Knights are averaging just under a goal a game on the power play. They are second in the league in efficiency at 19.8 with 16 goals on 81 opportunities. The 16 tallies are second in the conference, which is led by Robert Morris with an impressive 28 goals with the extra skater. Conor Andrle is the top point-getter on the power play with nine points, which is tied for sixth in Atlantic Hockey.

CONSISTENCY FROM CONOR
Sophomore Conor Andrle leads the Black Knights with 14 points on three goals and 11 assists. All three of his goals have been on the power play, including a snipe on Tuesday against Merrimack. He has points in eight of the last 10 games for Army and the Black Knights are 4-3-2 during the stretch. He assisted on Army's lone goal against UMass and it came on the power play.

AMONG LEADERS
Rookie Trevor Fidler has remained at the top of list of rookie scorers in Atlantic Hockey and sits tied for fourth in the league with 11 points. He is averaging 0.65 points per game and has five goals and six assists. He scored the gamewinner on Tuesday night against Merrimack with a beautiful move on a breakaway in the third period to put the Black Knights up 3-1.

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Sacred Heart enters this weekend with a 7-10-2 overall record and a 6-7-1 conference mark after sweeping Niagara at home last weekend. The Pioneers ended an eight-game winless streak with the sweep and moved up the league standings and now sits fifth. They started the season well with four conference wins in their first six matchups, but went on a stretch of four games without a win in league. Sacred Heart is averaging 2.58 goals per game, while allowing just under three a game. The power play is at 14.3 percent with nine goals in 63 opportunities.

Junior Justin Danforth leads the way for the Pioneers with 19 points on eight goals and 11 assists. He has three gamewinners and 16 of his 19 points have come in league play. Classmate Evan Jasper is second on the team with 17 points and has 12 assists to lead all skaters. Sophomore Alec Butcher, junior Jordan Minello and senior Zach Luczyk have all reached double figures in points this season.

In net, rookie Brett Magnus has had 17 starts and sports a 7-8-2 record and a 6-5-1 mark in conference play. He has three shutouts on the year and a 2.32 goals against average. Sophomore Nathan Perry has made two starts for the Pioneers, including the last matchup between these teams. He made 26 saves in the 5-2 loss on Dec. 5

SERIES HISTORY
The Pioneers lead the series with a 27-25-6 record. The series began in 1995-96 and the two teams met for the first time in the playoffs last season. Both teams have earned sweeps in the last two weekend matchups with Sacred Heart knocking the Black Knights out of the playoffs last year and Army returning the favor last month.

Army Resumes League Play This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Conor Andrle

Cole Bruns

Trevor Fidler

Joe Kozlak

Mike Preston

Army West Point Athletics