Half the Player Pool Off Limits, But Black Knights Are Finding Ways
WEST POINT, NY - Recruiting isn’t easy across the board in college hockey. For the staff at Army West Point, it’s an even tougher challenge, and that’s without even considering the unique person it takes to join the U.S. Military Academy. According to College Hockey, Inc., 32 percent of college hockey players are not American citizens, either coming from Canada (30 percent) or Europe (2 percent). Those players are entirely off limits for Army, unless they hold dual citizenship.
It’s a unique situation for sure but it’s something Army head coach Brian Riley and his coaching staff embrace. “We all realize that this is a special place,” said Riley, whose father Jack led the program for 36 years and his older brother, Rob Riley, then coached the team for 18 years before Brian took over in 2004. Riley continued, “We need attract a special type of young man. It’s easy to go find who the good hockey players are. We need to find good kidd who have strong character, good academics and great leadership. The army part of it, once we get them here, I know our guys will do fine in the army because the army is the ultimate team and hockey is the ultimate team sport.” Read More