A shootout victory over Union College last weekend set up Army for a major clash against an old Hockey East rival, the Northeastern Huskies, up in Boston. On their final trip to Matthews Arena in Boston, an arena that is closing after opening in 1910, the Black Knights came out victorious, earning Zach McKelvie his first win as Army head coach.
With goals from senior defenseman Jude Brower and sophomore winger Jack Ivey, Army left Matthews Arena with a second consecutive win over the Huskies, with that last win coming on February 13, 1998.
“It’s the last time our program will play in the historic Matthews Arena; it will be a nice memory,” said McKelvie after the victory.
The Black Knights got off to the right start on the road with an early power play. They didn’t score, but Army tested Northeastern goaltender Lawton Zacher with five shots, which they used to take control of the momentum for the rest of the first period.
With 6:12 left in the opening period, Army would take a 1-0 lead like they did against Union. On a set play off an offensive zone faceoff, Jude Brower, who was slotted in as the extra defenseman, got off a wicked one-timer from the right point that beat Zacher. The puck seemed to deflect off a Huskie or two, but they count the same, and the Black Knights would take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
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The second period would be a 180° swing in how the game played out; Northeastern hemmed Army in their defensive zone for the whole 20 minutes.
If it weren’t for sophomore goaltender JJ Cataldo, the Black Knights would have been down multiple goals heading into the second intermission. Less than two minutes into the period, JJ was called into action with a scramble in his crease and made a sprawling save on Huskies senior defenseman Dylan Finlay to keep the Army lead at 1-0.
“JJ was great all night – when they had the momentum, he came up with multiple saves that kept us in the game. He was our best player tonight,” said McKelvie.
Yes, Northeastern did have control of the whole period, but Army’s structure in their defensive zone was able to limit the high-danger chances on Cataldo, and kept things to outside the circles. Aside from their top pair of Sam Groebner and Lukas McCloskey, the Black Knights have five upperclassmen on the back end. This experienced group showed impressive calmness within their structure, and it started to frustrate the Huskies.
“Our guys did a great job of weathering some of their pressure and kept their composure when Northeastern was all over us. The defensive corps did a really nice job of limiting their chances inside the house and got sticks on a lot of pucks when Northeastern was there.”
The Huskies finally found a breakthrough with senior defenseman Austen May finding the puck on another net-mouth scramble and beating a diving Cataldo, who made multiple saves on the play, to send both teams into the locker room with the score tied at one.
The third period turned into a game of “who wanted it more”. For the most part, this game lived on the walls, and Zach McKelve’s team was determined not to be beaten in the dirty areas.
“I thought our guys competed hard all night. When the game was along the wall, we got better because they have a lot of speed and skill, so we needed to make it hard on them.”
Army wore down Northeastern, and it paid off with just under ten minutes to play in the third period. The Black Knights sprang out of the neutral zone with a three-on-two odd man rush, with Jack Ivey spearheading the attack. Ivey, coming down the right boards, used junior captain Barron Woodring as a decoy and fired a wrist shot past Lawton Zacher, just over his pad to give Army a 2-1 lead with 9:20 remaining on the game clock.
“Jack is a great player and can score from outside, which few players have the ability to do,” said McKelvie. “He has a high ceiling, and we are just going to push him to become the player he wants to be and we all know he can become. Big time goal for us.”
Entering the zone, Ivey said he noticed the defenseman picking up on the driving Barron Woodring, so he took the space the Huskies gave him and shot it. “Props to Woody,” Ivey said of the assist he got from his captain. “Scoring was definitely electric in [Matthews Arena]. A lot of emotion, but it was good to give the team a little more juice to finish out the game strong.”
As the seconds ticked off the clock, Army players were putting their bodies on the line to keep hold of their lead. JJ Cataldo remained a brick wall in between the pipes for the Black Knights, making 31 saves on the night.
Northeastern did push late in the waning seconds with their net empty to force overtime. With ten seconds left, a shot from the point was saved by JJ Cataldo, but a rebound was available in the blue paint, but the Huskies’ shot was blocked off the foot of freshman defenseman Lukas McCloskey into the corner.
Shortly after, the clock hit triple zeroes, and the Black Knights poured out onto the ice for their first victory celebration of the 2025-2026 season.
“The team’s commitment in our zone is a continuation from last year and a big part of our identity, said Jack Ivey. “We take pride in our commitment to blocking shots, and this type of game will definitely correlate to more wins this season. It’s great to get a good team win on the road with this commitment.”
It wasn’t just a big victory that saw Army upset Northeastern on the road, but it was a milestone win for head coach Zach McKelvie. In just his second game as head coach, Zach McKelvie earned his first victory of his young career as the head man behind the bench.
Taking over for Brian Riley, who held the position for 21 years, was never going to be an easy feat for McKelvie. But he has the backing of the players, and getting results like the one tonight against a Hockey East opponent will set him up well for many more memorable victories in the future.
The Black Nights will travel back home to post and have Saturday off before facing off against Independent Stonehill. Puck drop at Tate Rink is set for 4:00 pm ET.
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