Hanover, N.H. — It took Army ten weeks, but the Black Knights can finally celebrate a series win in 2025-2026. On Saturday night at Martire Family Arena, Army shut out the Sacred Heart Pioneers 2-0 to claim four points out of six this weekend in Connecticut.
Two goals in the second period from junior Vincent Salice and junior captain Barron Woodring were all the offense needed, with sophomore goaltender JJ Cataldo shutting the door for the team’s first shutout of the season.
“There are some positives from tonight, and one is that we didn’t allow an even-strength goal against a very good team,” Army Head Coach Zach McKelvie said post-game. “Our guys are committed to playing together defensively so I think that’s a big reason why we didn’t give up goals five-versus-five but also JJ [Cataldo] bailed us out on a few. For us, we come up here to win, so to us it doesn’t matter if a team is ranked or not; you have to do all the small things to win and we didn’t do that tonight. All the credit to them, they have great buy-in on both sides of the puck, a very well-rounded and coached team. It’s easy to see why they have had so much success this year and will continue to.”
The loss drops Army to 5-9-4 overall and 2-8-3 (11 points) in Atlantic Hockey play, while Dartmouth continues to be the last undefeated team in the country, standing at 11-0 on the season and 6-0 (18 points) in ECAC conference play.
Toe-to-Toe with the Big Green
The Big Green has been able to run its opponents out of the building in a majority of their games so far this season, but the Black Knights showed up to Thomas Arena ready to fight for every inch of ice.
Army came out of the gates strong against the home side, with the plan of bringing the game to the 8th-ranked team in the country. Dartmouth didn’t shy away from the physical side of the game either, making for an entertaining and fast-paced opening twenty minutes.
The Black Knights would get the first high-danger chance of the game. Junior Brent Keefer was able to split the Dartmouth defense at the blue line, but was able to get a full-on breakaway. Instead, Keefer was able to hold off the defender on his back and lay the puck off for the oncoming sophomore Nils Forselius.
With the goaltender scrambling and falling in his blue paint, Forselius had a majority of the net to shoot at. But as Forselius toe-dragged the puck around his defender, goaltender Roan Clarke was able to make a sparkling glove save to keep Army off the board.
The Big Green had its own chances to open the scoring in the first period, but the post behind JJ Cataldo aided the Black Knights and kept the puck out of the net. It was a really energetic period for both teams, but the game was scoreless heading into the first intermission.
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Dartmouth Finally Solves Cataldo
In the first period, Dartmouth outshot Army 11-5, and that trend would continue in the middle period. The Big Green peppered the Army net with shots, 15 to be exact, but JJ Cataldo was standing tall. None more evident than at the 11:50 mark.
Cataldo would stand on his head, making four huge saves while on his butt, helped by another blocked shot from his defensemen, to keep the puck out of the net.
“JJ is an excellent goalie. When he is on, he gives us a chance to win. I thought tonight he played really well, but we have to get him some goal support.”
Dartmouth would find a breakthrough less than two minutes later on a powerplay. Army did a fantastic job to kill ~1:40, but all it took was one breakdown and the Big Green opened the scoing with just a little over half the game remaing.
Cooper Cleaves found the puck bounce off an Army skate to his stick at the blueline. With the Army players scrambling to get into the shooting lane, Cleaves set up Jason Stefanek inside the left circle and his shot was able to beat Cataldo and give Dartmouth a 1-0 lead. It looked like the shot was slightly defelcted, but that goal would end Cataldo’s shutout streak at 93:56.
Army Hockey News:
- Army Sophomore Jack Ivey Named Atlantic Hockey Forward of the Week
- JJ Cataldo Shuts Out Sacred Heart to Earn Army Its First Series Win of the Season
- Army Captain Barron Woodring named Atlantic Hockey Forward of the Week
- Army Hockey Stuns No. 17 UMass 5-4, Earns Second-Ranked Win of Season
Third Period
Trailing by one with 20 minutes to go, Army looked to claw its way back into the game and make it interesting. But Dartmouth showed why they are an undefeated team.
The Big Green was able to force the Black Knights to play a majority of the period in its own zone. Army struggled to generate any offesnse and were outshot 13-3 shot.
“We need to be committed to winning more one-on-one puck battles. If you want to create offense, you have to get the puck, and Dartmouth won the majority of loose puck races and one-on-one battles tonight. If they lost a battle, they got right back in the play and recovered as well as anyone I have seen at this level. We also need to focus on hitting the net more. We had some rushes and a few quality looks that we either passed on or didn’t get on the net.”
Despite all that, Army kept it a one goal game throughout the third period and goaltender JJ Cataldo gave his teamates every chance to tie this game as Zach McKelvie pulled went with the extra attacker.
Unforunetly for McKelvie, as he called Cataldo to the bench, Army turned the puck over. All Colin Grable had to do was send the puck into an open net, as Cataldo was scrambling back to his net. He did just that to give the Big Green a 2-0 lead. Nikita Nikora put the nail in the coffin 44 seconds later, this time into an actual open net.
Overall, Army played a great defensive game at Thomas Arena. Goaltender JJ Cataldo made almost every save needed to leave New Hampshire with a victory. But, the offense was never able to get started, and that would be the Black Knights downfall tonight against the #8th-ranked Dartmouth Big Green.
Wrapping up Friday Night
Army (5-9-4, 2-8-3 AHA) is back in action tomorrow night as they wrap up the weekend with a 90-minute trip to Burlington, Vermont, to take on the University of Vermont (5-9, 3-5 Hockey East).
“Vermont is a solid team with a lot of talent,” Zach McKelvie said. “We are going to need to be better tomorrow night if we want to give ourselves a chance to win. Need to be much harder to play against and capitalize on our chances.”
The Catamounts haven’t had much success this season, but are coming off a road split with #18th-ranked Boston University.
Freshman goaltender Aiden Wright made 30 saves in the 3-2 victory over the Terriers. The Vermont number one boasts a record of 4-8, with a goals against average of 3.40 and a save percentage of .897%. Vermont has just one NHL draft pick on its roster, freshman defenseman Caeden Herrington. The Manchester native has played in all 14 games, recording five points (1 Goal & 4 Assists) and is a -7.
Saturday is also the 126th playing of the Army-Navy Game. Although the team won’t be able to watch the game, they are pulling for their brothers on the Football team. Head Coach Zach McKelvie, a 2009 graduate of the academy, is calling an Army win in Baltimore, Maryland.
“Army! We won’t be able to watch, as we will be on the bus to UVM, but it’s no doubt Army’s game tomorrow.“
Game Summary
Final Score: Army 0, Dartmouth College 3
Date: December 12th, 2025
Venue: Thompson Arena, Hanover, N.H.
Attendance: 2,539
Officials: Referee – Cameron Lynch & Sam Heidemann; Linesmen – Adam Wood & Cameron Goebert
Scoring Summary
First Period
- No Goals
Second Period
- 9:49 — Dartmouth: Jason Stefanek (Cooper Cleaves & Andrew Clarke) EV — 1-0 Dartmouth
Third Period
- 18:14 — Dartmouth: Colin Grable (Brock Cummings & Nathan Morin) EV — 2-0 Army
- 18:59 — Dartmouth: Nikita Nikora (Unassisted) EV (EN) — 3-0 Army
Team Stats
| Stats Categories | Dartmouth Big Green | Army Black Knights |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | 3 | 0 |
| Shots | 19 | 40 |
| Power Play (Shots) | 1-2 () | 0-1 () |
| Penalty Minutes | 2 | 4 |
| Faceoffs Won | 28 | 17 |
| Blocked Shots | 11 | 20 |
Goaltending
Dartmouth Big Green
- Roan Clarke (W): 19 Saves on 19 shots (1.000 SV%)
Army Black Knights
- JJ Cataldo (L): 37 Saves on 39 Shots (.948 SV%)
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