Army West Point Black Knights Hockey Trio Claim AHA Weekly Awards

Three members of the Army West Point Black Knights men’s ice hockey won AHA weekly awards after their victories over Mercyhurst.

Oct 16, 2021; Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Army Black Knights logo on sideline equipment during warmups prior to the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images / Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

The Army West Point Black Knights men’s hockey team swept Mercyhurst last weekend and in doing so set several team and Atlantic Hockey America records, as they won the two games by a combined score of 22-2.

On Monday, three Black Knights claimed AHA weekly player awards for their efforts.

Nik Hong earned AHA forward of the week, Mac Gadowsky claimed AHA defenseman of the week and Nils Forselius was named AHA rookie of the week.

All three had a significant impact in the series, which allowed the Black Knights (7-15, 7-8 in AHA) to pick up six points in the AHA standings. Army now has 21 points this season and is in seventh place in the AHA out of 11 teams.

Hong had a career-best five-point effort in Saturday’s 13-1 victory, which included his second career hat trick and made him the fourth Army player since the program joined the AHA in 2002 to have multiple hat tricks.

In Friday’s victory he had two points, including a goal and an assist. He finished the two-game set with four goals and three assists. He also won 23 faceoffs and is now one of three AHA players with 190 faceoff wins and eight goals this season.

Gadowsky was named the defenseman of the week for the second time this season. He finished the weekend with eight points and a plus-8 rating.

His performance actually started at midweek in a loss to American International, when he had an assist. Against Mercyhurst, he had a goal and two assists in Friday’s win, followed by two goals and two assists in Saturday’s win.

He leads Army with eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points among defensemen.

Forselius also had points in all three games last week, with the bulk of it coming in Satudray’s game. He has six of his eight points for the week, with a power-play goal and five assists. His six-point night was the first in college hockey this season and the first for an Army player since 1993.

Among AHA freshmen he ranks fourth with 12 points.

Army’s 13-1 win set an AHA record for most goals in a game. Army also scored seven goals in the second period of that contest, which matched the AHA record that was last accomplished in 2008.

The Black Knights have won two straight games and have several days off before they head west to start a two-game series with service academy rival Air Force on Friday to continue AHA action.