Falcons Face RIT in Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
The Matchup: Sixth-seeded Bentley and third-seeded RIT are set to square off this weekend in a best-of-three Atlantic Hockey quarterfinal series at Ritter Arena in Rochester, N.Y. Game one is set for Friday night at 7:05 p.m., with the second, and if necessary third games, Saturday and Sunday night at the same times.
The Falcons got to this point by dispatching 11th-seeded Sacred Heart two-games-to-one in the first round, winning the deciding game three 5-0. The Tigers received a bye to the quarters by finishing the regular season in a three-way tie for third with 34 points. This will be the first ever meeting in the Atlantic Hockey playoffs between these two programs.
The series winner earns a trip to the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester for the semifinals on March 16, so the possibility exists that Bentley will be in Rochester two weekends in a row.
Follow The Games: Live video, stats and audio will be available all weekend.
Atlantic Hockey Tournament: In the other three quarterfinal series, top-seeded Air Force hosts eighth-seeded UConn after the Huskies swept Canisius. Second-seeded Niagara welcomes in seventh-seeded Robert Morris after the Colonials escaped the first round with a game three overtime win over AIC. Fourth-seeeded Mercyhurst plays host to fifth-seeded Holy Cross after the Crusaders swept Army last weekend.
Earlier in the Season: The Falcons and Tigers played two tightly contested games on the weekend of Jan. 20 at the JAR with RIT sweeping by scores of 2-0 and 2-1. In the first game, both teams took just 26 shots, but a Matt Garbowsky goal in the first period was the difference until Brad McGowan scored an empty-netter with 1:24 left in the game. One day later, Alex Grieve gave Bentley a 1-0 lead at 5:41 of the second period, but the Tigers scored twice in the second period, with the eventual game-winner coming on a short-handed goal by Scott Knowles with 53 seconds left in the period. Junior goalie Shane Madolora stonewalled Bentley most of the night with 36 saves.
Leading the Way: AHA Player of the Year candidate Brett Gensler leads Atlantic Hockey in all three major offensive categories at this point in the season with 21 goals, 26 assists and 47 points. On Sunday against Sacred Heart, he tied Dain Prewitt's '09 program record for most goals in a single-season at Division I. He's one point away from tying head coach Ryan Soderquist's record for most points in a season at DI, and is tied for fifth all-time, just two points from Jon Vedder '89 for second place (49 pts in 1988-89). Gensler is three away from Soderquist's DI assists record.
Nationally, he's tied for sixth in points, is 15th in points per game (1.27), tied for eighth in goals and tied for 15th in assists. Only Colgate's Austin Smith has more even-strength goals than Gensler's 19.
Battle of the Goalies: This series features two of the top goalies in the conference in Bentley's Branden Komm and RIT's Madolora. In conference games, Komm finished the regular season fourth in the AHA in goals against average (1.96) and sixth in save percentage (.933). Overall, he's logged more minutes (2,035) than only UConn's Garrett Bartus in the AHA. He's 15-12-7 overall, which ties the program's record for most wins by a goalie in Division I.
Madolora finished the regular season third in GAA (1.71) in conference games and fourth in save percentage (.939). He sports a 15-7-5 record overall.
Three in Top-10: Bentley is the only team in the conference that has three players in the top-10 in scoring; Gensler, Grieve (t-6th, 32 pts) and Brett Switzer (9th, 30 pts).Grieve and Switzer are one-two in the conference in points among rookies.
New Freshman Record: With 32 points, Grieve has broken Anthony Canzoneri's '09 record for most points by a Bentley freshman at DI. Canzoneri recorded 31 points as a freshman in 2005-06.
All-Time Series: RIT leads the all-time series with Bentley 13-4-2 and 11-3-2 in Division I. Bentley's last visit to Ritter Arena came on the weekend of Jan. 14, 2011. The Tigers won the first game 4-1, but Bentley earned a 3-3 tie in the second.