Bentley Gains Split with 5-1 Victory over Mercyhurst

WATERTOWN, Mass.- Bentley University's red-hot power play produced three of the team's five goals, with freshman Andrew Gladiuk (White Rock, British Columbia/Nanaimo Clippers) getting two of them, as the Falcons dropped Mercyhurst 5-1 Saturday night in the second game of an Atlantic Hockey series.

The Falcons (6-5-0, 5-3-0 AHA), who split the series with Mercyhurst (4-5-1, 4-2-0 AHA) after losing game one 4-3 in overtime last night, upped their power play percentage to an impressive 35.0% on the season. They've scored a power play goal in seven straight games.

In addition to Gladiuk's two goals, Dan Koudys (Grimsby, Ontario/Burlington Cougars), Alex Grieve (Calgary, Alberta/Westside Warriors) and Justin Breton (Fitchburg, Mass./Boston Jr. Bruins) also scored.

Defenseman Steve Weinstein (Los Angeles, Calif./Vernon Vipers) had three assists, and defenseman Matt Blomquist (Blaine, Minn./Coulee Region Chill) and Brett Gensler (St. Charles, Mo./Youngstown Phantoms) each had two assists.

Bentley grabbed a 1-0 lead just 3:06 into the first period on Koudys' third goal of the season off a rebound by a shot from Alex Kubiak (Tinley Park, Ill./Chicago Steel).

The Falcons' power play gave them a 2-0 lead at 13:41 of the first courtesy of Gladiuk. Gladiuk took a pass in the right face-off circle from Weinstein, and ripped a wrist shot through traffic in front of the net that beat goalie Jordan Tibbett low and to the left.

Towards the end of the period though, Bentley found itself trying to kill off a two-man advantage for Mercyhurst. They killed off the first penalty, but the Lakers' Nick Jones found the back of the net with just one tick left on the clock with Blomquist in the box.

Komm saved the initial shot from Paul Chiasson, but the rebound bounced to Jones in the right face-off circle, allowing him to beat Komm and the clock to cut Bentley's lead to 2-1 heading into the second period.

The power play gave Bentley a 3-1 lead at 9:07 of the second period, with Gladiuk scoring again. Gensler had the puck on the left wing and fed Gladiuk a sharp cross-ice pass that Gladiuk one-timed past Tibbett for the goal.

The score stayed that way into the third period, until Grieve scored at 2:08 to make it 4-1, tipping in a shot from Weinstein. Breton then added an empty-net goal with 3:02 remaining to finish out the scoring.

Bentley is right back in action on Thursday to host Army to close out their four-game home stand. Game time is 7:05 pm.