RMC Hockey Game Reports

RMC - West Point Rivarly

Historic duel at risk: 'Unprofessional' e-mail to West Point leads to off-ice spat

An e-mail circulated last year has proven to be one more irritant that threatens the oldest continuous international hockey series in the world. The message, complaining of the calibre of officiating at the U.S. Military Academy, was distributed to colleges in the U.S. after Army defeated the Royal Military College Paladins 6-1 in last February's annual match.

"When stuff like that is sent out," Army coach Brian Riley said, "to be quite honest with you, all the other teams in our league and the <Air> <Force> Academy coach are, like, 'Why even bother to play the series?' "
Darren Cates, athletic director at RMC, said there are "a couple of issues surrounding the hockey game ... that need to be resolved" but he's confident the series between RMC and West Point, an exchange that dates to 1923, will survive. The teams faced off Saturday night at the Memorial Centre. "The relationship with [West Point] is great," Cates said.

Riley, however, still bristles at the thought of the message. "One of their assistant coaches sent an e-mail to every team in our league, as well as to the <Air> <Force> Academy, complaining about the reffing at West Point, asking if anyone else felt the same to respond back to him," Riley said. "Unprofessional? Absolutely. I know this: If that was done by anyone here at West Point, whether it be me or one of the assistants, we would have lost our job." Riley said this sort of thing "doesn't help" to keep alive a series already being questioned by West Point in light of RMC's use of part-time students, civilians and reservists on the varsity hockey team.
The 83-year-old series, which resumed Saturday night at the Memorial Centre, was tainted in 2003 when RMC players damaged a motel room after another loss at West Point.

Contacted Thursday, Cates at first couldn't recall the contentious e-mail. "You'd have to tell me what e-mail you're talking about," he said. "I don't know what e-mail you're referring to." Told of the message's content, Cates remembered it, and said it was sent by a "supporter" of the hockey team. "It didn't come from us in the athletic department and it didn't come from the college," he said. "I heard about it. It came from someone who was acting on their own ... It was nothing that we endorsed or supported. "I'm surprised to hear that [Riley] is still upset about it because it really wasn't a big issue at the time it went out." Cates said he couldn't remember who sent the e-mail. "It really wasn't that big of an issue," he said.

In advance of Saturday's 75th game between the two service academies, Riley also restated his distaste for RMC's use of non-cadet hockey players. Students can now attend the college on a part-time basis, and they may be admitted through the local militia. As with civilian <Canadian> universities, students are eligible to compete in intercollegiate sports by enrolling in a minimum of three courses.

"I can't begrudge RMC," Riley said. "If they're able to bring in non-cadets and that's within their rules, that's what they should do but when this series was set up, it was set up as an exchange for cadets, so they could interact with each other. It's kind of going away from that now. That could have something to do with where this series is going to go." Ten of the 23 members of RMC's team are full-time officer cadets. "If that's within the rules, hey, I can understand that," Riley said, "but if this was Army-Navy football and half the Navy players were non-cadets, we probably wouldn't be playing the game."

If the series continues, it quite likely will take a different form. The acrimony and philosophical issues aside, logistics have become a hardship. For most of the series' history, the game has been played in February and most years, it was the last game of the season for both schools. Both Army and RMC are now involved in leagues and both are facing playoff commitments. History notwithstanding, the last thing either coach needs is an exhibition game dripping with emotion plopped in the middle of a playoff race.

Riley, whose father Jack coached Army for more than 30 years, recalls the RMC game fondly. "My brothers and sister, we couldn't wait for the RMC game because of all the pageantry that went with it," he said. "[RMC coach] Danny McLeod would be staying at our house and I think sometimes we cheered more for Danny than we were supposed to. But it's changed now. Both of us are in leagues where we're involved in playoffs. It's still a very important game but we're also aware, as I'm sure RMC is, they're looking to get through this game and get into their playoffs."

RMC coach Kelly Nobes acknowledges the difficulty. "Do you think McGill or Three Rivers is playing an NCAA Division I team this week?" he said. "Ideally, you don't have the Carr-Harris game [against Queen's] on Tuesday, West Point on Saturday and the playoffs [starting] on Wednesday, but that's the way it is this year. "We're going to make the adjustments and do what we have to do to play as well as we can on Saturday."

Cates said that's one of the problems he and West Point officials were hoping to solve in a Saturday morning meeting. "There are problems with the timing of the game for both schools," he said. "We're about to go into playoffs and you know the intensity of this game. Suspensions carry over, injuries can happen." In addition, he said, both teams' respective leagues are expanding their schedules next year. "It's getting tougher to [play the game] during the core part of the league season. We're looking to try and find a better time for the teams to play this game."

Which means playing the game in the fall. "We're really hopeful," Cates said. "We tried to do it this year ... but it was just too late in the [planning stage]. With it being the 75th, we thought, OK, play the 75th at the traditional time because it's a big anniversary and then change it going forward."

In terms of fostering a cultural exchange among cadets, Cates suggested moving the game to the fall might be the best thing to do. "It's supposed to be West Point weekend," he said. "This year we have a winter sports day, we have band exchanges and workshops, taekwondo, debating. No one pays any attention to that. The hockey game has really become the focal point and it can exist as a stand-alone event. "Maybe by having the rest of the activities on [another] day, they'd get a bit more attention."

Cates said the climate between the two institutions is "great." The schools have already confirmed a spring women's soccer game "and it's about 99 per cent that their men's basketball team is coming up here in the fall. "There's no doubt in my mind [the hockey issues will be resolved]." Riley does not wish to see the series die on his watch. "A lot of things have changed," he said. "It just seems there are more obstacles to overcome to get this game to be played the way it was years ago and have it used as a cultural exchange as it was originally set up.

"This is the 75th anniversary and I think there'll be an opportunity after this game to figure out from a hockey standpoint what's the best way to go."