The Army hockey team will face Air Force in a pair of Atlantic Hockey America series in 2026-27, as the league announced its slate on Wednesday, May 20.
The Black Knights will travel to Colorado Springs on Nov. 6-7, and the Falcons will travel to West Point on Feb. 19-20.
Army will open league play with two games at Holy Cross on Oct. 16-17. The Tate Rink schedule opens Oct. 30-31 against Rochester Institute of Technology and, following the Air Force road games, on Nov. 13-14 against Sacred Heart.
Army will host Bentley Dec. 4-5,; travel to Robert Morris Jan. 15-16; host Canisius Jan. 22-23; travel to RIT on Jan. 29-30; host Niagara on Feb. 5-6; travel to Sacred Heart on Feb. 12-13; and, following the Air Force home pair, travel to Bentley on Feb. 25-27. Mercyhurst dropped its program following the 2025-26 season.
All dates are subject to revisions.
The remainder of the Army non-conference schedule will be announced later.
This will be the second season for head coach Zach McKelvie. Army lost seven seniors to graduation; the Black Knights are expected to return eight juniors, nine sophomores and six freshmen from the 2025-26 team.
The 2027 Atlantic Hockey playoffs will consist of four rounds. The No. 9 seed will visit the No. 8 seed in a one-game playoff on March 2. The best-of-three quarterfinals will be held March 5-7, with the No. 1 seed hosting the Nos. 8-9 winner, No. 2 hosting No. 7, No. 3 hosting No. 6 and No. 4 hosting No. 5.
The advancing teams will be re-seeded for the March 12-14 best-of-three semifinal series, the highest seed hosting the lowest seed and the second-highest seed hosting No. 3. The one-game final will be March 20 at the highest-remaining seed, the winner advancing to the NCAA Div. I tournament.
Last season, the regular season standings finished as: 1. Bentley (16-6-4); 2. Sacred Heart (15-8-3); 3. Robert Morris (13-11-2); 4. Holy Cross (14-10-2); 5. RIT (13-11-2); 6. Air Force (13-10-3); 7. Canisius (12-12-2); 8. Niagara (9-16-1); 9. Army (7-15-4); 10. Mercyhurst (5-18-3).
In the playoffs, Mercyhurt beat Canisius and Army topped Niagara in single-game first rounds; Bentley swept Mercyhurst; Sacred Heart swept Niagara; Robert Morris topped Air Force in three games; and, Holy Cross swept RIT in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Bentley swept Holy Cross and Sacred Heart topped Robert Morris in three games. In the final, No. 1 Bentley nipped No. 2 Sacred Heart 3-2.
kmcmillan@th-record.com
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This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army hockey – Atlantic Hockey slate to begin Oct. 16-17
Reporting by Ken McMillan, Middletown Times Herald- Record / Times Herald-Record
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