Hockey Falls in Season Opener against Union

Saturday, October 3

West Point, N.Y.

4 p.m.

Army West Point

0-1-0

Union

1-0-0

Team	1	2	3	F
Union (NY)	1	1	2	4
Army West Point	2	0	0	2

Brent Keefer (28), Barron Woodring (25) and Rhys Wallin (12) celebrate Wallin's first collegiate goal against Union at Tate Rink on Oct. 3, 2026

Hockey Falls in Season Opener against Union

October 03, 2026 | Hockey

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army West Point hockey fell to the Union Garnet Chargers (1-0-0) by a score of 4-2 on Saturday evening at Tate Rink. Army (0-1-0) outshot Union 36-29 in the defeat. For the Black Knights, freshman Rhys Wallin scored his first collegiate goal, and senior Brent Keefer recorded his 11^th career multi point game and has now recorded at least one point in the season opener against Union for three consecutive seasons.

Notables

Wallin scored at 16:21 in the first period for his first collegiate goal with assists from Keefer and sophomore Lukas McCloskey.
Brent Keefer recorded his first season opening multi-point game in his career.
Sophomore Billy Batten tied a career high four shots.
Freshman Noah Mertz earned two blocks in the game.
Wallin, Mertz and freshman Thomas Neu, Sean Gibbons, Cam Charron and Thomas Quast all skated in their first collegiate game.

By The Numbers

Goals: 1, Two Tied (Rhys Wallin - career high & Brent Keefer)
Assists: 1, Two Tied (Lukas McCloskey - career high & Brent Keefer)
Points: 2, (Brent Keefer)
Blocks: 2, (Noah Mertz -career high)
Shots: 4, Multiple Tied (Billy Batter- career high, Barron Woodring, Brent Keefer)
+/-: 2, Two Tied (Thomas Quast & Lukas McCloskey)
Saves: 25, JJ Cataldo
Face-Offs: 15, Nik Hong

How It Happened

Army controlled play early and opened the scoring at the 5:19 mark of the first period. Brent Keefer collected the Black Knights' first goal of the 2026-27 season to put Army ahead 1-0. The Union defender turned the puck over along the boards in the Army attacking end. Keefer picked up the loose puck made a move underneath and took a backhand shot that beat the Union goaltender.
The Black Knights doubled their advantage at 16:21 of the opening frame when Rhys Wallin finished a feed from Keefer and Lukas McCloskey for the first collegiate goal of his career, extending the lead to 2-0. McCloskey shot the puck in low from the blue line, where Keefer picked it up and passed it to Wallin at the bottom of the circle. Wallin took a wrist shot that went top shelf into the back of the net for his first in an Army sweater.
Union responded exactly one minute later as Tyler Dunbar found the back of the net to trim the Army advantage to 2-1 heading into the first intermission.
Connor Smith scored on the power play at 7:58 of the second period, leveling the score at 2-2.
Following a scoreless stretch of more than 30 minutes, Will Felicio broke the tie with 1:51 remaining in regulation to give Union its first lead of the afternoon.
Army pulled its goaltender for an extra attacker, but Smith added an empty-net goal 24 seconds later to secure the 4-2 final.

Up Next
The Black Knights will return to action on Oct. 11 at Tate Rink playing host to their rivals from up north against RMC, with puck drop scheduled for 2 p.m. This will mark the first time since the 2023-24 season that the historic rivalry will return to West Point. Fans can purchase tickers to attend HERE.

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.

––www.goarmywestpoint.com—