Gerald N. "Jerry" Knightley is a Canadian retired ice hockey Winger and coach who was a two-time All-American for Rensselaer.

Career

Knightley was one of the final recruits for

Ned Harkness Nevin Donald Harkness (September 19, 1919 – September 19, 2008) was an NCAA head coach of ice hockey and lacrosse at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Cornell University and of ice hockey at Union College. Harkness was also head coach of th ...

with the Engineers, arriving in

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

in the fall of 1961. Knightley's first season with the varsity team was the last for the legendary bench boss and Knightley produced tremendous results alongside Bob Brinkworth. Unfortunately, the team's defense was rather porous, allowing more than 4 goals per game, and RPI was unable to make the conference tournament. After Harkness' departure,

Rube Bjorkman Reuben Eugene Bjorkman (born February 27, 1929) is a former head coach of the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey men's team. A graduate of Roseau, Minnesota High School, where he led his team to a state championship in 1946, Bjork ...

was installed as the head coach and the team's defense improved tremendously. Knightley and Brinkworth, who served as co-captains for the season, formed a powerful scoring duo that finished 1st and 2nd in the nation with Knightly leading the way (75 points). Knightley was named First Team All-ECAC and an All-American and got the Engineers into the conference tournament. RPI finished in third place, and weren't expecting to receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament, however, the conference runner-up

St. Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...

possessed a worse record and were passed over in favor of the 17–7 Engineers. RPI fell to

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

in the semifinal but Knightley helped the team recover to win the consolation game and was named to the All-Tournament Second Team. Bjorkman left after one season and former standout

Garry Kearns Garry Kearns is a Canadian retired ice hockey head coach and player who was in charge of the program at Rensselaer for five seasons. Career Kearns joined the Rensselaer program a year after it won its first national title in 1954. After sit ...

took over, however, the team was beginning to suffer from two years of little to no recruiting. With Brinkworth gone due to graduation the team's offense was led almost exclusively by Knightley. He finished with just 49 points on the year but still had 11 more than the next Engineer. While

ECAC Hockey ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United States. This relati ...

had split into two divisions, RPI still declined in the standings and missed out on the postseason. Knightley was still highly regarded for leading his team through a difficult season and was named an All-American once more. After graduating with a degree in

management engineering Engineering management is the application of the practice of management to the practice of engineering. Engineering management is a career that brings together the technological problem-solving ability of engineering and the organizational, admini ...

, Knightley returned to

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and attended

Western Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...

. While earning his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

Knightley also played for the

Mustangs The mustang is a free-roaming horse of the Western United States, descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but because they are descended from once-domesticated animals, they ...

. He was inducted into the RPI Athletic Hall of Fame in 1968.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knightley, Jerry Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian ice hockey forwards Ice hockey people from Scarborough, Ontario RPI Engineers men's ice hockey players Western Mustangs men's ice hockey players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans