WATERTOWN, Mass. – Sacred Heart scored four goals in less than five minutes in the third period, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead as the Pioneers eliminated Bentley University from the Atlantic Hockey Tournament with a 6-3 victory Saturday night at Ryan Skating Arena.

Bentley led 3-1 after two periods on the strength of two goals by Dustin Cloutier (Berkley, Mich./Mahoning Valley Phantoms).

However, with a little more than 12 minutes remaining in the game the wheels began to fall off, starting with Evan Mladenoff's second goal of the night at 7:54 that cut Bentley's lead to 3-2.

The turning point of the game came less than three minutes later when Matt Gingera scored the first of his three third period goals at 10:41 to tie the contest up.

Perhaps still stunned at allowing the tying goal, Bentley allowed another one just nine seconds later off the ensuing face-off, as a Ben Ketchum shot off the shoulder of goalie Joe Calvi (New Lenox, Ill./New England Jr. Huskies) gave the Pioneers the lead for good at 4-3.

Gingera added to Sacred Heart's lead with his second at 12:24, and he completed the natural hat trick with an empty- net goal with 23 seconds remaining, completing a stunning five-goal period.

The first period ended in a 1-1 tie on goals by Cloutier and Mladenoff, but Bentley dominated the second period. They outshot Sacred Heart 19-5 and took a 3-1 lead on goals by Cloutier and Jamie Nudy (West Chester, Pa./Choate Rosemary Hall). Pioneers goalie Olivier St. Onge did well to limit the damage though, making 17 saves in the period and keeping it a two-goal deficit.

Bentley's power play, which began to turn the corner over the final month of the season after a rough start, came back to haunt them in this game by going 0-7, including 0-5 over the last two periods.

The Falcons finish the season at 10-18-6, while Sacred Heart improves to 6-23-6 and will play Air Force in the quarterfinals.

Box Score

At Watertown, Mass

Atlantic Hockey Tournament First Round

Sacred Heart (6-23-6)                     1   0   5   --   6

Bentley (10-18-6)                            1   2   0   --   3

1st Period: B, Dustin Cloutier (Erik Peterson, Ryan Kayfes) 6:14; SH, PP Evan Mladenoff (Patrick Knowlton, Alex Stuart) 7:32

2nd Period: B, Jamie Nudy (Joe Campanelli, Mike Switzer) 3:20; B, Cloutier (Brett Gensler, Kayfes) 13:22

3rd Period: SH, Mladenoff (Mitchell Stretch, Olivier St. Onge) 7:54;SH, Matt Gingera (Eric Delong, Torin Snydeman) 10:41; SH, Ben Ketchum (David Berube, Chad Filteau) 10:50; SH, Gingera (Snydeman, Delong) 12:24; SH, EN Gingera (St. Onge, Chris Brown)

Shots: B, 45; SH, 28

Saves: B, Joe Calvi 22; SH, Olivier St. Onge 42

Penalties: B, 4-8; SH, 7-14

Power Plays: B, 0-7; SH, 1-4