It’s been a good start to the season for the Army Black Knights (2-1, 2-0 AHA), coming off a weekend where they swept one of the conference’s best programs, Holy Cross (2-4, 0-2 AHA). A 5-2 victory Saturday and a 3-1 win Sunday gave the Black Knights all six points in Worcester, Massachusetts.
That resulted in Army’s first sweep to open a conference schedule since the 2017-2018 season, when they took on AIC. Now Zach McKelvie’s crew looks to take that momentum into its biggest test they will see this season, traveling up Route-15 to take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats (4-1, 0-0 ECAC) in a massive non-conference showdown.
Scouting the Opposition: #8 Quinnipiac Bobcats
This will be the first matchup between the former AHA rivals since 2005. The series began during the 1995–96 season with a 10–2 victory for the Cadets, but Army has struggled since the turn of the millennium, claiming just three wins. Overall, Quinnipiac heavily dominates the head-to-head record with a 12–6–1 advantage.
Before the rivalry paused when Quinnipiac moved to the ECAC, Army was on a seven-game winless streak against the Bobcats, including five straight losses. The Cadets are also still searching for their first win on Connecticut ice.
The Black Knights played in the ECAC from 1961-1973 & 1984-1991 before joining the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) for the 1999-2000 season, now known as Atlantic Hockey America. Quinnipiac was a founding member of the MAAC.
Quinnipiac finished last season 27-10-3 with a 17-4-1 conference record to win the ECAC regular season title for the sixth straight year. The only issue has been the lack of a postseason championship, winning ZERO Whitelaw Cups in that span. In the National Tournament, things came crashing down for the Bobcats, losing to North Dakota in the Sioux Falls Regional Finals 5-0.
It was a high-octane offensive season that pushed the Bobcats to victory in 2025-2026. They were second in scoring in the country last season, averaging 4.05 goals per game, thanks in large part to freshman sensation Ethan Wyttenbach. The Calgary Flames’ 5th-round draft pick in the 2025 NHL Draft is one of the best players in College Hockey and is already up to 11 points (4 Goals & 7 Assists) in 5 games. He’ll be the standout player to watch for the Bobcats.
This year the Bobcats are off to another fast start with a 4-1record and averaging 5.4 goals per game. The only loss in the first five games came to unranked Maine University, a 5-3 defeat in Orono, Maine.
Head coach Rand Pecknold returns nine of his top-ten leading scorers from last season, including Hobby Baker finalist and Roslyn, New York native Wyttenbach. Other players to keep an eye on Friday night are Mason Marcellus (5 Goals & 2 Assists), Jack Stockfish (3 Goals & 2 Assists), and Chris Pelosi (2 Goals & 3 Assists). Army fans will notice the name Jack Stockfish, who transferred from Holy Cross after a 35-point (14 Goals & 21 Assists) season for the Crusaders.
In goal for the Bobcats is Christian Kirsch, a 4th-round pick of the San Jose Sharks in the 2024 NHL Draft. Born in Switzerland, Kirsch is playing in his first NCAA season, joining from the Memorial Cup champions Kitchener Rangers. Through three starts with Quinnipiac, Kirsch is 3-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .933% save percentage.
What Some Black Knights Are Saying:
Head Coach Zach McKelvie:
Q: The Bobcats are always one of the better programs in the country, and you’ve got to go face them on the road. What are you looking for out of your squad in that game with the Bobcats?
“Well, I think with any game, you just want to play to your identity, play to your strengths. Like Quinnipiac obviously has a lot of strengths. They’re a well-balanced team. They have plenty of good players. That’s no surprise. They’re very well coached. And I think that Coach Pecknall has done an unbelievable job over the last 10, 15 years of really being the standard in college hockey on how you do everything: how you recruit, how you get your guys to buy into a process, the systems you play. And so for us, it’s a great challenge. We want to play the best teams. And I think everybody does. This is an opportunity for us to see where we’re at as a group, but also hopefully make sure that we set ourselves up to win.”
Q: Next up is Quinnipiac, one of the best teams in the country. What are you looking forward to most, and how do you come out of the game with a victory?
“Next week will be a challenge, no doubt. Quinnipiac, in many areas, has become the standard for the way teams want to play. They have talent, are very well coached, and have buy-in from their players. For us, like any game, we want to play to our identity and keep growing with each game. It’s a great challenge but at the same time a great opportunity.”
Senior Captain Barron Woodring:
Q: Next up is Quinnipiac, one of the best teams in the country. What are you looking forward to most, and how do you come out of the game with a victory?
“The Quinnipiac game is a very exciting challenge for us. They are a great team and will make us work hard to have success. Last season we had some great out-of-conference wins, and I think if we play our game we will have success. It is always fun to play in those away environments, and I think everyone is looking forward to that matchup.”
Junior Goaltender JJ Cataldo:
Q: Next up is Quinnipiac, one of the best teams in the country. What are you looking forward to most, and how do you come out of the game with a victory?
“For the Quinnipiac game, it’s definitely going to be a good test for us, but if we play the way we did this weekend, we’ll be in good shape.”
Scouting the Opposition: United States National Team Development Program U18s
To finish off the weekend, the Black Knights will return to Tate Rink Saturday night to take on the United States National Team Development Program U18s (4-8-0-0). Plenty of future Division-I hockey players will take the ice donning the US crest, including the likes of Nolan Fitzhenry (North Dakota commit), Finnegan Sears (Boston College commit) and Rocco Pelosi (Boston College commit).
Army Head Coach Zach McKelvie knows the challenge that a talented NTDP team presents the Black Knights.
“It’s the best young talent that USA has. We played them a few years ago, and a lot of those guys are on TV now, and they’re doing very well in the NHL. So I think it’s good for our fans and it’s great for our players,” said McKelvie. “This game is a little bit different when the USNTDP plays West Point because it’s probably the only game they play, and it’s the only game we play, outside of Air Force, where it’s all American-born players on the ice. So I think it’s a pretty special game for our fans and a good opportunity for our school. It’s also a great opportunity for us to continue to improve as a team. They’re highly skilled. They play with pace. They’re not physically as mature as probably some of our guys, but it’s still going to be a huge challenge for us.”
As McKelvie said, the last time Army took on the National Team was in 2022. That team had players like Zeev Buium (Vancouver Canucks), Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals), Will Smith (San Jose Sharks), Gabe Perreault (New York Rangers), Oliver Moore (Chicago Blackhawks), Trey Augustine (Detroit Red Wings), and many others who are now playing in the NHL.
That game was an offensive slugfest, with both teams showing what they were made of. The All-Boston College line was on fire. Leonard had two goals, Perreault had three assists, and Smith had a goal and an assist. Sophomore Joey Baez (’25) scored four goals, including two in the third period to force overtime for Army. But in overtime, it was San Jose Sharks star Will Smith with the game-winning goal to hand the NTDP a 7-6 victory over the Black Knights.
Saturday night at Tate Rink, there will be a lot of American pride inside of Tate Rink as we set up for what should be another fun matchup between these two teams at the United States Military Academy.
Getting You Set For the Weekend
Army (2-1, 2-0 AHA) looks to hit the jackpot this weekend, facing off against an elite program in the Quinnipiac Bobcats (4-1, 0-0 ECAC). A win will garner some big-time headlines, legitimizing Army’s start to the 2026-2027 season, especially if they do so in a venue they have never won at.
In his first season as head coach, Zach McKelvie led the Black Knights to an impressive non-conference campaign. Army went 4–1–1 against Hockey East and ECAC opponents, highlighting the run with victories over UMass, Union, and a sweep of Northeastern.
Another potentially massive weekend for McKelvie and his team if they can pull off an upset in Hamden, Connecticut. A win Friday night and they will wake up Monday morning with a top-25 number next to their name.
Here’s the information you need to know for the weekend:
@ #8 Quinnipiac Bobcats
- When: Friday, 7 p.m
- Where: M&T Bank Arena / Hamden, C.T.
- How to Watch: ESPN+
vs. USNTDP U18
- When: Saturday, 7 p.m
- Where: Tate Rink / West Point, N.Y.
- How to Watch: Flohockey.tv
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