Hockey Scores Three Goals in the Second Period to Win Atlantic Hockey Opener at Holy Cross

Saturday, October 17

Worcester, Mass.

7 p.m.

Army West Point

1-1-0, 1-0-0

Holy Cross

2-3-0, 0-1-0

Team	1	2	3	F
Army West Point	1	3	1	5
Holy Cross	0	0	2	2

Rhys Wallin (12) celebrates a goal against Holy Cross at Hart Center Rink in Worcester, Mass. on Oct. 17, 2026

Hockey Scores Three Goals in the Second Period to Win Atlantic Hockey Opener at Holy Cross

October 17, 2026 | Hockey

Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – Army West Point hockey opened conference play with a 5-2 victory over Holy Cross (2-3-0, 0-1-0 AHA) on the road to secure their first victory of the year. For Army (1-1-0, 1-0-0 AHA), freshman Rhys Wallin scored two of the Black Knight's goals and became the first plebe to have a multi-goal game since Jack Ivey against Sacred Heart on Feb. 8, 2025, in a 5-3 victory for the Black Knights.

Notables

Senior Barron Woodring had three points in the victory (one goal, two assists), the first Black Knight to record three points in a game since Ben Ivey on Feb. 20, 2026, against Air Force.
Freshman Rhys Wallin became the first plebe to have a multi-point game since Billy Batten against RIT on Feb. 6, 2026, when he recorded three assists in a 6-2 victory.
The Black Knights scored three powerplay goals on six opportunities
Woodring, junior Nils Foreslius and senior Nik Hong all scored their first goals of the season in the victory.
Senior Brent Keefer continued his point streak earning two more points for four points in two games.
Freshman Noah Mertz and Sean Gibbons earned their first collegiate points and assists.
The Black Knights earn their first conference opener victory under head coach Zach McKelvie.
Junior JJ Cataldo finished with 28 saves in the victory and now has 1,828 saves in his career which ranks 10^th all-time in saves in program history.

By The Numbers

Goals: Rhys Wallin, Two
Assists: Two Tied (Barron Woodring & Brent Keefer), Two
Points: Barron Woodring, Three
Blocks: Easton Zueger, Four
Shots: Jack Ivey, Seven
+/-: Two Tied (Easton Zueger, Thomas Quast), Two
Saves: JJ Cataldo, 28
Faceoffs: Barron Woodring, 10

How It Happened

The Black Knights started the scoring early with a goal from freshman Rhys Wallin at 1:04 into the game. Senior Barron Woodring collected the puck at the top of the circle and threw it towards the net, where senior Brent Keefer collected it and passed it across the slot to freshman Rhys Wallin. Wallin deked out the goalie to make it 1-0.
Both teams battled back and forth for the rest of the period but were unable to find the back of the net with the Black Knights outshooting the Crusaders 14-10 in the opening frame.
Starting the middle frame, the Crusaders took many penalties with four in the second that the Black Knights were able to capitalize on half of them with one from Woodring and another from junior Nils Forselius. The powerplay unit cycled the puck around the zone. Forselius made a pass to Woodring down low at the side of the net, where Woodring slid it by to double the Army lead to 2-0.
About two minutes later, Forselius added another. Foreslius carried the puck from the boards into and across the slot before taking a shot beating the Crusader goalkeeper top shelf to make it 3-0.
Seconds later, senior Nik Hong added the fourth of the night for the Black Knights. Freshman Sean Gibbon fought for the puck in the corner along the board and it kicked out to sophomore Billy Batten. Batten passed it to a wide-open Hong the top of the crease to make it 4-0. The Black Knights scoring three unanswered goals in the under the span of three minutes in the second period.
Coming out of the intermission the Black Knights continued to have a hot hand off the stick of Wallin for his second of the evening. Batten carried the puck into the zone and passed it down low to Wallin. Wallin connected with Hong at the top of the circles. Hong slid the puck across to the backside to Keefer on the doorstep and took a shot but was stopped by the Crusader goalie split save. The Holy Cross goalie kicked out the rebound came out right to the stick of Wallin who tapped it in as he was skating across the crease to make it 5-0.
The Crusaders added two in the closing minutes of the game off the stick off Owen Kim to make it 5-2.

Up Next
The Black Knights will return to Hart Center Rink in Worcester looking to sweep the Holy Cross Crusaders for their first conference opening sweep since the 2017-18 season when the Black Knights swept AIC to open AHA play. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m.

Follow the Black Knights
Follow Army Hockey on X @ArmyWP_Hockey and on Instagram @armywp_hockey Fans can also like Army West Point Athletics on Facebook and learn more about hockey and other programs at goarmywestpoint.com

Army West Point Athletic Association, Inc. (AWPAA)
AWPAA is an IRS code 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation established to execute the United States Military Academy's intercollegiate athletics program. AWPAA is led by a board of directors that provides guidance to the director of athletics, who serves as the primary advisor to the USMA Superintendent and the USMA leadership on all NCAA operations. The AWPAA mission is to recruit, educate, train and inspire leaders of character who are committed to the Army values through an extraordinary Division I athletic experience.

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