Color of Hockey: Keefer took winding road to getting on ice for Army

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles Brent Keefer, who is a leading scorer for the United States Military Academy hockey team and among rookies in the Atlantic Hockey Association.

Brent Keefer was so determined to play hockey for the United States Military Academy at West Point that he stopped playing hockey.

The 22-year-old freshman forward didn’t play last season so he could concentrate on becoming academically eligible for Army by attending the United States Military Academy Preparatory School, which doesn’t have a hockey team.

“Maybe I took it a little bit for granted when I was in juniors, not realizing how much I love this game,” Keefer said. “Definitely having the whole year off, not playing at all, lit a fire under my belly, for sure, that made me want to take my game to the next level.”

Keefer has delivered for the NCAA Division I Black Knights (7-17-1). He’s second on Army in goals (10) and third in points with 18 (eight assists) in 25 games, and is tied for third in points among freshmen in the Atlantic Hockey Association with Matthew Wilde of Rochester Institute of Technology and Boris Skalos of Mercyhurst.

“’Keef’ is having an outstanding year as a ‘plebe,’ a freshman,” said Army coach Brian Riley, using West Point jargon for the lowest-ranked cadets. “He’s extremely fast, as a result he creates opportunities for himself and those that play with him.

“I think his biggest attribute is his passion for the game and his wanting to win. You just see that in him every day, whether it’s in practice or a game, that will to win, how it drives him. I’m hoping that the more he’s part of this program, the more he’ll have teammates watch him and learn from him and say, ‘You know what? I want to be like ‘Keef.’ ' He has a knack for the net.”

Army wasn’t on Keefer’s radar during the three seasons he played for Colorado Springs and Rocky Mountain of the North American Prospects League or the three seasons with Shreveport and Northeast of the North American Hockey League, where he had 88 points (38 goals, 50 assists) in 141 games from 2019-22.

But Keefer (6-foot, 170 pounds) said college scholarship offers evaporated after he sustained a lower-body injury during his last season in juniors. It didn’t scare off Riley or associate coach Zach McKelvie, who invited Keefer to visit the picturesque campus in West Point, New York.

Growing up in Colorado Springs, home of the United States Air Force Academy’s NCAA Division I hockey team, Keefer said he wasn’t “a military guy” and was a little hesitant to make the trip East. He eventually did.

“I ended up loving the place,” he said. “When I first saw it, it was like a scene out of ‘Harry Potter.’ The Army hockey family is so much different than any place I’ve ever been. It’s actually a family. And the coaches were probably the biggest aspect for me.”

But before he could lace his skates for Army, Keefer had to get his grades in order to be admitted to West Point. The military academy’s prep school, or USMAPS, was established in 1946 to help selected students, or cadet candidates, for the academic and physical rigors of West Point.

The school, located on the West Point grounds, is small, about 200 students, Riley said. It has football, basketball and lacrosse teams and offers others athletic activities -- except hockey.

Keefer joined the lacrosse team, even though he never played the sport before.

“It was lacrosse or cheerleading, so it was a pretty easy answer for me,” he said. “Honestly, I kind of picked it up, really. Since I played defense, I didn’t have the ball a lot. I was more, like, trying to defend guys so I didn’t have to showcase my stick skills, or lack thereof, so it was kind of nice.”

Keefer said the lacrosse experience has made him a better hockey player.

“Definitely from the grit aspect, for sure,” he said. “Coming in, I wasn’t the most gritty player, I would say. But with lacrosse, getting hit with sticks and stuff like that, it's a real 1-on-1 game, so if you’re lacking in that, you’re kind of getting exposed. So it definitely added more grit to my game on the ice, for sure.”

When he wasn’t studying or playing lacrosse, Keefer did manage to do some skating during his season away from hockey.

“He couldn’t skate when the coaches were around, but he would try to come up and jump on the ice,” Riley said. “Schedule-wise, he would come up, he would ask us, ‘Is the ice open?’ He would jump on by himself.”

Keefer said the year away from the game has been worth it. The “not a military guy” said he’s enjoying the military life at West Point. He got a thrill when he had a goal and assist against archrival Air Force in a 4-3 overtime loss at Colorado Springs on Nov. 10.

“I remember when I was 13 years old, skating with the Air Force guys, looking up to them,” he said. “And now I’m playing against them. It’s weird how that works.”