Army hockey coach Zach McKelvie wants championships in Black Knights' future

West Point hockey alum Zach McKelvie is excited for the opportunity take over Army program.

Zach McKelvie played a huge role in getting Army to its only appearance in a conference hockey final, back in 2007. He’s admittedly shocked that remains the high-water mark of a proud program that dates back over 100 seasons.

“We’ve had a lot of good teams since then,’’ said McKelvie, 40. “We’ve had a lot of competitive teams but, for whatever reason, we just haven’t been able to get it done in the playoffs.’’

West Point graduate Zach McKelvie will serve as Army hockey head coach. ARMY ATHLETICS

He’d like to change all that, now that he’s head coach after serving 11 seasons as an assistant, but he understands that it’s a process.

“One of our goals is to change that and be a team that is really tough to beat,’’ said the former blue-liner, not straying far from the traditional Army ideals of playing sound, rugged, defensive-minded hockey.

“We need to change,’’ he continued. “We kind of need to change the goalposts a little bit. I think that this program has been in this place where we’re always competitive. We produce so many good people, and I want those things to still be true. … But I also want it to be a program where people are like, ‘Wow, that is a good hockey program, too (and) if you play them in the playoffs, you are in trouble because that’s a winning program.’ I think we’ve got to change that mentality a little bit, that we can do it and we can do it consistently. But before we do it consistently, we’ve got to do it once, right?’’

The Black Knights were one victory away from the Atlantic Hockey finals last season but met the same semifinal setback fate as in 2008, 2016 and 2021. As usual, the task will not be easy this season in a league full of teams that have an advantage in recruiting, bolstered by the NCAA transfer portal and a new influx of Canadian junior league talent.

The season gets underway on Saturday when Long Island University visits for an exhibition. On Sunday, Army travels to Schenectady to christen the M&T Bank Center as Union College’s new rink in the official season opener.

McKelvie likes his inaugural corps, with sufficient upperclassmen talent mixed with two younger classes that saw a lot of playing time as freshmen and sophomores last season. Army was picked by the coaches to finish fifth – something that has bristled a proud squad – but he acknowledges that the league is strong top-to-bottom and just a few points will separate contenders from pretenders.

“(The guys) are very confident,’’  McKelvie said. “They’re all about what we’re trying to do here. … I love the culture of our team. I really like our lineup.’’

Recently, McKelvie revealed his top offensive lines as Barron Woodring centering Vinny Salice on the left and Brent Keefer on the right, and Nik Hong centering Nils Forselius and Jack Ivey – he considers those lines as 1A and 1B. Ben Ivey is also considered a top forward but he suffered a preseason injury that may shelve him until December. McKelvie is confident his third and fourth lines should come together well, led by sophomores Adam Marshall and Dylan Wegner. In all, Army returns nine of its top 10 scorers of a year ago.

One notable exception is the exit of pro hopeful and all-star defenseman Mac Gadowsky, who took his 42 points to the transfer portal and joined his dad, Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky, with the Nittany Lions. “A guy like that is a generational player at West Point,’’ McKelvie said, “so if we only get two years out of him, so be it.’’

So any blue-line point production by Army is going to have to come by committee, McKelvie said. Sam Groebner and Lukas McKloskey have been paired, as have Easton Zueger and Pierce Patterson and Sean Vlasich with Owen Nolan.

In nets will be sophomore J.J. Cataldo, who’s very fast, athletic and tracks the puck well. Last season Cataldo posted 14 wins, a 2.41 goals against and .922 save percentage. Backups Jacob Biron and Gus Holt have shown improvement.

J.J. Cataldo '27, of Stuart, Fla., is the goaltender for Army hockey. ARMY ATHLETICS

“It’s the first time in a couple years where we felt like we have a mature team,’’ said McKelvie, who says he has tweaked some systems from his predecessor and expects an “adjustment phase.’’

“We want to play our best hockey in February and March,’’ he said. “We want to play great in October, but it’s all about learning and getting better. And by the end of the year – similar to last year – we’re playing our best hockey.’’

For the first time since the 1949-50 season, Army will not be led by a member of the Riley family: Hall of Famer and Olympic player and coach Jack Riley guided the team from 1950-1986; his son, Rob, ran matters from 1986-2004; and, another son, Brian, had directed the team since then.

But McKelvie is no stranger to the West Point experience. He played four seasons for Army (2005-09), served more than two years in the U.S. Army and saw action in three minor-professional seasons before Brian Riley hired him. While serving as a top assistant, McKelvie was presented with opportunities to coach all different aspects of the team, which prepared him well for his current task.

Zach McKelvie, left, will take over Army hockey head coaching duties from Brian Riley, right, for the 2025-26 season. ARMY ATHLETICS

The players, “know how committed I am to this program and how passionate I am,’’ McKelvie said. “I’m not afraid to talk about our dreams here and our big goals. I think people outside our locker room … would probably laugh at things I say because I believe that we can accomplish something pretty special here.’’

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X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR

Schedule

All games at 7 p.m. unless indicated

October

Fri. 3 - vs. Long Island (exhibition), 5 p.m.; Sat. 4 - at Union, 5 p.m.; Fri. 10 - at Northeastern; Sun. 12 - Stonehill, 4 p.m.; Tues. 14 - Canisius*; Fri. 24 - Holy Cross*; Sat. 25 - Holy Cross*, 4 p.m.

November

Sat. 1 - at Canisius*; Fri. 7 - at Bentley*; Sun. 9 - at Bentley*, 2 p.m.; Fri. 14 - at Niagara*, 6 p.m.; Sat. 15 - at Niagara*, 5 p.m.; Fri. 21 - Air Force*; Sat. 22 - Air Force*; Tues. 25 - Bentley*; Sat. 29 - Massachusetts, 4 p.m.

December

Fri. 5 - at Sacred Heart*; Sat. 6 - at Sacred Heart*, 5 p.m.; Fri. 12 - at Dartmouth; Sat. 13 - at Vermont, 6 p.m.; Sun. 28 - at Long Island, 5 p.m.

January

Fri. 2 - Northeastern; Fri. 9 - at Merychurst*; Sat. 10 - at Mercyhurst*, 5 p.m.; Fri. 16 - Robert Morris*; Sat. 17 - Robert Morris*, 4 p.m.; Sat. 24 - Royal Military College of Canada (exhibition); Thur. 29 - at Holy Cross*; Fri. 30 - at Holy Cross*

February

Fri. 6 - Rochester Institute of Technology*; Sat. 7 - Rochester Institute of Technology*, 4 p.m.; Tues. 10 - at Bentley*; Fri. 20 - at Air Force*, 9 p.m. ET; Sat. 21 - at Air Force*, 7 p.m. ET; Fri. 27 - Sacred Heart*; Sat. 28 - Sacred Heart*, 4 p.m.

March

Tues. 3 - Atlantic Hockey first round, TBD; Fri. 6-Sun. 8 - Atlantic Hockey best-of-3 quarterfinals, TBD; Fri. 13-Sun. 15 - Atlantic Hockey best-of-3 semifinals, TBD; Sat. 21 - Atlantic hockey final TBD; Thur. 26 or Fri. 27 - NCAA regional semifinals; Sat. 28 or Sun. 29 - NCAA regional finals

Home games played at West Point's Tate Rink; Atlantic Hockey games marked by an asterisk

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Zach McKelvie takes over Army hockey program after 75 years of Rileys

Category: General Sports