Falcons Head to Buffalo to Face Canisius in Atlantic Hockey First Round
Follow the Games: Bentleyfalcons.com for links to video, audio and live stats throughout the series. In-game updates on Twitter @BentleyFalcons will be provided as well.
The Matchup: The Atlantic Hockey Tournament gets underway this weekend with four first round, best-of-three series. The 10th-seeded Bentley University Falcons will take on the 7th-seeded Canisius College Golden Griffins in Buffalo, N.Y., beginning on Friday night with game one. Game two is Saturday night and game three, if necessary, is Sunday night. Each game begins at 7:05 pm.
Bentley (12-18-3, 10-14-3 AHA) enters postseason play struggling with just one win and two ties since Jan. 26. They were swept last weekend by AIC to close out the regular season. Canisius (13-18-5, 12-13-2 AHA) swept RIT last weekend to snap a five game losing streak and secure home-ice in the first round.
The other first round matchups pit 5th-seeded Robert Morris against 12th-seeded Sacred Heart, 6th-seeded Mercyhurst against 11th-seeded Army and 8th-seeded RIT against 9th-seeded AIC. Niagara, Air Force, Holy Cross and UConn earned byes to the quarterfinals.
What to Watch For: Both teams struggled down the stretch, with Bentley going just 1-7-2 since Feb. 1 and Canisius 4-6 in the same span … the matchup pits Bentley's high-scoring offense, which averages 3.24 goals per game (2nd AHA), against Canisius' stingy defense, which yields just 2.44 goals per game (2nd AHA) … Canisius' excellent penalty kill, which is at an even 90.0% for the season (1st AHA), goes up against Bentley's power play, which has struggled in the second half of the year (10.0%) after a hot start in the first half (25.9%).
Earlier This Season: Back in mid-January, Bentley swept Canisius at home in the regular season series by scores of 3-2 in overtime and 7-2. In the first game, junior Brett Switzer scored 2:51 into the extra session to give Bentley its first home overtime win since 2006. Defenseman Steve Weinstein and junior Jared Rickord also had goals.
Bentley then finished the sweep the next night, scoring at least seven goals for the fourth time. The game was tied 2-2 midway through the second period, but Bentley scored five unanswered and erupted for four goals in the third frame. Joe Campanelli, Justin Breton and Andrew Gladiuk each had two goals.
Playoff History: Bentley and Canisius have met twice before in the postseason. The first matchup was a one game playoff in the 2005 quarterfinals in Buffalo, which the Falcons won 4-2. More recently, the teams played a three game quarterfinal series in 2009 that Bentley won 2-1. A hat trick by Jeff Gumaer led Bentley to a 4-2 victory in the decisive third game.
Home Cooking: Junior goalie Branden Komm, a native of Buffalo suburb Williamsville, is 3-1 in his career against Canisius with a .943 save percentage and a 1.75 goals against average. Last season in his first career game in the Buffalo area, Komm shutout Canisius in a 2-0 Bentley victory Nov. 5, 2011.
Good Company: With two assists in Saturday's game against AIC, junior Brett Gensler reached at least 40 points for the second straight season (16g, 24a). He had 50 points last year (23g, 27a). He became only the second player in school history accomplish that feat, joining head coach Ryan Soderquist, who did it in the 1996-97 (41 points) and 1997-98 (59 points) seasons.
Gensler also secured the Atlantic Hockey regular season scoring crown for the second straight year, beating out Mercyhurst's Matthew Zay.
Leading the Way: Gladiuk finished the regular season leading AHA rookies in scoring with 28 points (12g, 16a) despite missing the final two games of the regular season. He's the second straight Falcon to lead conference rookies in regular season scoring after sophomore Alex Grieve did it last season.
Five Reach Double Figures: Five players finished the regular season with double figures in goals. Gensler (16), Breton (13), Gladiuk (12), Grieve (10) and Switzer (10).
Vote Gensler for the Hobey: Gensler is on the initial ballot for the 2013 Hobey Baker Award, and fans can vote for their choice, as much as once a day, at hobeybakeraward.com. Balloting will close on Sunday, March 10 at midnight and the top-10 finalists will be announced March 21. To date, Gensler has more than 4,100 votes, which is 11th.
Also named a semifinalist for the Walter Brown Award, which he won last season, Gensler is 11th in the nation in points per game (1.21).
Up Next: Should Bentley advance, they would play in the best-of-three quarterfinals beginning Friday, March 15.