Army Downs RMC, Retains Challenge Cup

Saturday, January 21

West Point, N.Y.

7:35 PM

Army West Point

Royal Military College

Army Downs RMC, Retains Challenge Cup

January 21, 2017 | Hockey

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point hockey team continued its streak against the Royal Military College of Canada Saturday night with a 5-3 victory at Tate Rink in front of a sellout crowd. Dominic Franco led the Black Knights with two goals, while Cole Bruns made 28 saves.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

The Black Knights now lead the all-time series with RMC, 45-29-7, including a 29-12-1 advantage on the banks of the Hudson.
Army is on a six-game winning streak, and are on a 10-game unbeaten streak against the Paladins.
The Riley family is now responsible for 42 of the Black Knights' 45 wins against RMC.
Army outshot RMC, 42-31, for the game and have yet to be shutout this season with 24 games under its belt.
The Cadets are 2-1-1 in gold jerseys this season.
Along with Franco, Nash Worden, Brendan McGuire and Ian Mansfield also tallied goals for the Black Knights.
Bruns picked up his first start of the season and made 28 saves in the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The first period began with heavy hits from both sides and continued throughout the game.
Army led, 17-6, in shots during the first period and converted with 2:44 remaining to go ahead 1-0.
Nick DeCenzo cleared the puck out of the defensive zone to Michael Wilson. He fed it to Franco down the ice who was able to beat the goaltender. The trio all recorded their career first points against rival RMC on the play.
Worden sparked a scoring frenzy that accumulated three goals between the two teams in two minutes. Two minutes into the second stanza, he netted one after Garrett Peterson stole the puck from the Paladins.
Then, 24 seconds later, RMC answered back with a tip in to keep the game within one.
Army didn't stay quiet though and McGuire sniped one top shelf from the top of the circle to pad the Black Knights lead to 3-1, with help from Alex Wilkinson and Tipper Higgins.
The Paladins regained momentum after Deric Boudreau stole the puck in Army's defensive zone and beat Bruns. This brought the score within one with the Cadets up 3-2 with eight minutes remaining in the second stanza.
RMC netted its third of the night 2:07 into the final period of play. Owen Gill took the initial shot and blocked Bruns' view which enabled John Livingston to score.
The Paladins pulled their goalie late in the third period, but Army stole a pass and Franco put home the game-sealing goal with 41.6 seconds remaining. It was his second score of the contest.

TURNING POINT

Worden's goal at the 17:24 mark of the second stanza was the turning point of the game. This sparked a five goal period between the two teams.

UP NEXT

The Black Knights will head to Colorado Springs, Colo., next weekend to face service academy rival Air Force for the second time this season. Friday's game begins at 9 p.m. ET, while Saturday's is set to start at 7 p.m. ET.

For up-to-date information about Army hockey, please follow @ArmyWP_Hockey on Twitter and Instagram.