The 2022–23 Army Black Knights men's ice hockey season was the 120th season of play for the program, the 113th at the Division I level, and the 20th in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Black Knights represented the United States Military Academy and were coached by Brian Riley, in his 19th season.
Season The start to Army's season could hardly have been worse. While the offense was still trying to cope with the loss of star forward Colin Bilek, the defense collapsed and allowed a barrage of shots to reach Gavin Abric. The worst came when the Black Knights were swept by Lindenwood, a first-year program, at home and dropped to the bottom of the national rankings. The team had a week off after that debacle but seemed to have figured out a few things upon return. The most obvious change was the implementation of a goal-tending rotation between Abric and senior, Justin Evanson. That tactic paid instant dividends as the team allowed just 5 goals over a 5-game span and didn't lose a single match. The offense too began to improve and Joey Baez began taking over as the team's primary scorer.
By the midpoint of the season, the Black Knights were still recovering from their early-season woes but the team appeared to be on the right track. Army slowly moved up the Atlantic Hockey standings and had put themselves into a position for a potential home game in the playoffs. Unfortunately, the defense began playing inconsistently at the end of the season. Army split its final three weekend series and finished just 2 points behind Canisius for the final home site. Because of that, the team had to travel up to Buffalo, New York and the instability on the back end followed the Knights. After a poor performance in the first game, Army rebounded with an overtime shutout victory to push the series to a deciding third game. The offense was completely absent in the final game of the season and Army was sent packing with a 0–3 loss.
Departures Colin Bilek Forward Graduation (signed with Manitoba Moose) Eric Butte Forward Graduation (signed with Kansas City Mavericks) Daniel Haider Forward Graduation (retired) Christopher Konin Forward Left program (retired) Mitch Machlitt Forward Transferred to Geneseo State Coby Mack Defenseman Graduation (retired) Brody Medeiros Defenseman Left program (retired) Andrew Quetell Defenseman Graduation (retired) Brad Zona Defenseman Left program (retired)
Recruiting Jude Brower Defenseman 21 Mahopac, NY Joey Dosan Forward 21 Bloomington, MN John Driscoll Defenseman 21 Eagle, ID Reese Farrell Forward 21 Auburn, ME Max Itagaki Forward 20 Glenview, IL Lucas Kanta Forward 21 Grand Forks, ND Owen Nolan Defenseman 22 Mahopac, NY Trevor Smith Forward 21 Raleigh, NC Sean Vlasich Defenseman 21 Upper Saddle River, NJ Stephen Willey Forward 21 Shelton, CT
Roster As of August 16, 2022.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
!colspan=12 style=";" |
Scoring statistics F 37 4 29 33 28 D 36 5 24 29 18 F 37 21 7 28 40 F 36 11 17 28 12 LW 37 13 11 24 43 F 37 10 14 24 20 D 37 6 14 20 18 F 34 8 8 16 30 D 37 3 9 12 39 D 33 2 10 12 16 F 33 5 3 8 16 F 33 1 6 7 18 F 37 3 2 5 8 F 16 2 2 4 2 F 27 1 2 3 8 D 34 1 1 2 16 F 26 1 1 2 4 D 32 1 1 2 4 F 6 0 1 1 0 D 8 0 1 1 2 F 11 0 1 1 0 G 13 0 1 1 0 F 14 0 1 1 2 D 15 0 1 1 0 G 2 0 0 0 0 F 2 0 0 0 0 F 12 0 0 0 4 G 25 0 0 0 0 D 32 0 0 0 8 Total 98 167 265 323 Source:
Goaltending statistics 13 769:27 7 5 1 34 347 2 .911 2.65 25 1428:36 7 14 3 77 703 2 .901 3.23 2 30:40 0 0 0 3 10 0 .769 5.87 Empty Net - 28:19 - - - 5 - - - - Total 37 2257:02 14 19 4 119 1060 4 .903 3.20
Rankings
PollWeekPre12345678910111213141516171819202122232425 26 27 (Final) USCHO.comNR-NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR-NR USA TodayNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNR Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.
Awards and honors Noah Wilson Derek Hines Unsung Hero Award Max Itagaki Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year Joey Baez Atlantic Hockey Second Team John Keranen Atlantic Hockey Third Team Max Itagaki Atlantic Hockey Rookie Team
References