WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army Hall-of-Famers Dave Merhar (USMA ’69), George Clark (USMA ’75) and Dave Rost (USMA ’77), will be honored in a jersey retirement ceremony prior to the Army hockey game against Holy Cross on Feb. 6 at Tate Rink.
The trio is set to become the first hockey players to have their jerseys retired and raised above Tate Rink. The numbers will not be “officially” retired, so future players are allowed to wear each number.
The celebration is a two-day event that will feature a cocktail reception on Friday, Feb. 5, for family members at Anderson Rugby Complex. Saturday’s events will start with a dinner with members of the hockey community, teammates, coaches and family on the fourth floor of Kimsey Athletic Center, followed by the uniform retirement ceremony and banner unveiling prior to the game against the Crusaders.
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Merhar led Army’s hockey team in scoring during each of his three seasons with the varsity, but it was his explosive senior campaign that earned him national acclaim. Merhar erupted for an NCAA-record 57 goals and tallied 50 assists during the 1968-69 season, becoming the first collegiate player ever to surpass 100 points in one year. His 107 points that winter still remain the sixth-highest one-year total recorded in NCAA history while only one player has ever registered more than 57 goals in a season.
Still today, Merhar is fourth all-time in NCAA history in points per game in a season (3.82 in 1969); seventh in points per game in a career (3.63 from 1967-69); second goals per game in a season (2.03 in 1969); and ninth in goals per game in a career (1.42 from 1967-69).
Merhar’s 229 career points rank fifth all-time at Army, while his 117 assists stand tied for eighth on the seasonal chart. He lists third on the Black Knights’ career scoring ladder with 112 goals and is one of just four Army players who have reached 100 goals in a career. What is even more impressive about these marks is that Merhar set them in three seasons.
One of only four All-Americans in Army hockey history, George Clark still stands as Army’s all-time leading goal scorer with 153 markers. A two-time Division II first team All-East selection (1974, 1975), Clark served as team captain during his junior and senior years. He led Army in goals scored during all four years on the ice. Currently ranked third on Army’s career scoring list (266 points), Clark stands 10th among the school’s all-time assist leaders (113).
He etched his name into the NCAA record books and ranks eighth in career goals- per-game (1.40) and his 1.68 goals-per-game average in 1973-74 ranked fourth on the NCAA’s single-season chart. He posted a 1.62 goals-per-game to rank fifth among the NCAA’s single-season leaders in that category the following year. Clark’s 47 goals in back-to-back seasons are tied for the second highest single-season total in Academy history.
Clark still holds five Army records as the program’s leader in career goals scored (153), career hat tricks (18), consecutive games with a hat trick (4), goals in a single game (7) and points in a single game (9). He currently stands tied for sixth on the NCAA’s single-game points scored list.
No player in NCAA hockey history has scored more points than Dave Rost, who compiled an astounding 330 points during his remarkable four-year career at Army.
Rost was tabbed a first-team All-East selection in 1977, capping a sparkling senior season in which he set an Academy record with 108 points, while jointly setting the NCAA single-season scoring mark with Clarkson’s Dave Taylor. The Black Knights’ career assist leader with 226, Rost tallied 104 career goals to graduate in third place in that category. His 66 assists in 1974-75 remain an Academy record.
The Black Knights won at least 18 games during each of his four years on the varsity, compiling a 78-31-3 (.709) record and earning four successive trips to the ECAC Division II Tournament. Rost led the team in scoring during each of his final three campaigns.
