Atlantic Hockey Preview - Army
West Point is the next stop on the tour of the Atlantic Hockey Association. I have picked Army to finish 3rd in the conference this year.
Last year was an incredible season for the Black Knights. Predicted to be 9th in the preseason poll, Army finished 3rd and made it to the tournament finals for the first time. This is a continuation of the improvement in the number of wins for Army the last couple years going from 7 in 2004-05 to 12 in 2005-06 to 17 in 2006-07.
In spite of all the success for Army, the offense was not a major part of it. They only averaged 2.93 goals per game in confernce. The good new for Army is that 3 of their top 4 scorers from last year return. Luke Flicek is the biggest name returning. He scored 14 goals and had 23 assists last year for Army. They need to be a little bit better on the power play - a low 15.7% conversion rate. If they improve the offense a little, they will be that much tougher to beat.
The defense for the Black Knights was Army Strong all year. They held teams to a meager 26.6 shots on goal per game. The defense was also good when forced to play a man down. They allowed goals on 16.3% of opponents power play chances. With 4 returning seniors, this unit should be among the best in the conference yet again. They will be led by Chase Podsaid, who is the captian of the team. They will be a hard defense to crack.
The defense is helped by one of the best goalies in the conference in Josh Kassel. Josh was on the All Conference team at goaltender. He earned it with some strong numbers. He had a 2.30 goals against average in conference play. That led to a save percentage of .913. Backing up Kassel is fresman Jay Clark and sophomore Joey Spracklen.
Army is a tough team to call. On the one hand, they have an incredibly strong defense that will keep them in a lot of games. On the other hand, they don't have an offense that is going to blow teams out of the water. They are a dangerous team that will be a force this year in conferece.
Projected record: 18-10
Last year was an incredible season for the Black Knights. Predicted to be 9th in the preseason poll, Army finished 3rd and made it to the tournament finals for the first time. This is a continuation of the improvement in the number of wins for Army the last couple years going from 7 in 2004-05 to 12 in 2005-06 to 17 in 2006-07.
In spite of all the success for Army, the offense was not a major part of it. They only averaged 2.93 goals per game in confernce. The good new for Army is that 3 of their top 4 scorers from last year return. Luke Flicek is the biggest name returning. He scored 14 goals and had 23 assists last year for Army. They need to be a little bit better on the power play - a low 15.7% conversion rate. If they improve the offense a little, they will be that much tougher to beat.
The defense for the Black Knights was Army Strong all year. They held teams to a meager 26.6 shots on goal per game. The defense was also good when forced to play a man down. They allowed goals on 16.3% of opponents power play chances. With 4 returning seniors, this unit should be among the best in the conference yet again. They will be led by Chase Podsaid, who is the captian of the team. They will be a hard defense to crack.
The defense is helped by one of the best goalies in the conference in Josh Kassel. Josh was on the All Conference team at goaltender. He earned it with some strong numbers. He had a 2.30 goals against average in conference play. That led to a save percentage of .913. Backing up Kassel is fresman Jay Clark and sophomore Joey Spracklen.
Army is a tough team to call. On the one hand, they have an incredibly strong defense that will keep them in a lot of games. On the other hand, they don't have an offense that is going to blow teams out of the water. They are a dangerous team that will be a force this year in conferece.
Projected record: 18-10
posted by Komey at 3:44 PM
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