Army defeated Notre Dame Sunday night 4-2 at Tate Rink at West Point, paced by Kevin Darby's 3 points. The Cadets came out strong and jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first period. Brad Hammacher opened the scoring at 4:59 from Chris Mead and John Alissi. At 13:50, Rick Randazzo made it 2-0 Army, assisted by Kevin Darby and Scott Williams. Chris Mead made it 3-0 at 15:11 from Kevin Darby. The Irish came back in the 2d period, and at 6:36 Tom Arkell scored, assisted by Eric Gregoire. Sterling Black made it 3-2 at 9:16, with assists going to Jason Konesco and Michael Curry. But that was as close as ND came to catching Army. The third period was conservatively played on both sides, with neither team gaining the upper hand. ND pulled their goalie in the final minute, and Kevin Darby scored an empty netter at 19:35 to finish off the Irish. Todd Tamburino got an assist on Darby's goal. The Cadets resume ECAC play this weekend on what hopefully will be their drive to the playoffs in Army's final year of ECAC league play (this time around). Happy New Year to everyone on the hockey bulletin board, especially my friends at Cornell. See you soon, bob. Rick Jenkins