Bentley-Holy Cross Rekindle Rivalry Tuesday; Falcons Face Army over Weekend
The Matchups: Bentley begins a busy holiday week Tuesday night when they rekindle its rivalry with Holy Cross at the Hart Center in Worcester. Bentley will then host Army for a series beginning Friday night at Ryan Arena. Tuesday's and Friday's games begin at 7:05, while Saturday's is a 5:05 start. Each game is live on AtlanticHockey.TV.
The Falcons are coming off a 5-1 defeat at Harvard Friday night and will enter Tuesday's game at 5-6-1 overall and 3-2-1 in Atlantic Hockey. Holy Cross was off last weekend. The last time they were in action, the weekend of Nov. 14, the lost to Army 5-4 in overtime and tied the second game 0-0.
Army was swept at Niagara last weekend. The Black Knights will be in action Tuesday night when they visit No. 20 Providence of Hockey East.
Follow the Games: Newly rebranded AtlanticHockey.TV will carry every Bentley AHA game this season. Season ($150), monthly ($35) and single game ($10) passes are available. Live stats will be available on Bentleyfalcons.com and in-game updates will be on Twitter @BentleyFalcons.
Where They Stand: Robert Morris (6-1-3 AH, 15 pts) has opened up a five-point lead atop the Atlantic Hockey standings over Holy Cross (3-1-4 AH, 10 pts) and Sacred Heart (4-4-2, 10 pts), though every team has played a different number of conference games. Just four points separate the second place teams from the 10th place teams. The Falcons (7 pts) will enter play Tuesday tied for eighth with Air Force, though both teams are tied for the fewest conference games played (6) so far. Bentley has the third highest winning percentage in conference games (.583) behind Robert Morris (.750) and Holy Cross (.625).
French Gets to 10 & 5: A bright spot out of Friday's game was sophomore Max French's 10th goal of the season late in the second period. After scoring 11 in 33 games as a freshman, he has 10 in just 12 games this season. French's 10 goals are tied for second in the nation, behind RIT's Matt Garbowsky. His five power play goals are tied for the national lead with Quinnipiac's Sam Anas.
French and Gladiuk are also in the top-10 nationally in points. French is tied for eighth with 16, and junior Andrew Gladiuk is tied for fourth with 17.
Another One for the Power Play: French's power play goal on Friday marked the 10th straight game the Falcons have scored on the man-advantage. They've scored a PP goal in 11 of 12 games this season, and continue to lead the country at 34.7% (17-49). That's more than six percentage points better than second place Denver University (28.3%).
Holy Cross Series Notes: Tuesday's game will be the 55th all-time meeting between the two programs, whose rivalry was taken to the next level with last season's game at Frozen Fenway. Holy Cross and Sacred Heart are the two programs Bentley has faced most in its history.
Though the Crusaders lead the all-time series 29-18-7, Bentley has won three straight after sweeping all three contests last season and four of five. Bentley is 4-6 in the last 10 games at the Hart Center, but won last season's only meeting in Worcester 5-3 on Jan. 25 behind two Gladiuk goals. Captain Alex Grieve has a 4-6-10 line in nine career games against Holy Cross. Gladiuk has a 5-4-9 line in just six games, and defenseman Steve Weinstein has 12 assists in nine games, including five in the three games last season.
Army Series Notes: Army has a slight 23-20-8 edge in the all-time series which dates back to 1981, though Bentley has had the upper-hand in recent seasons. They have won three straight after sweeping the season series last year, including a 5-4 OT win on Feb. 15 at the JAR on a goal by Tyler Deresky. The Falcons are unbeaten in the last five against Army (4-0-1), and since the start of the 2007-08 season, are 12-6-2 against the Black Knights, with five of those wins coming in Watertown. Grieve has a 6-8-14 line in nine career games against Army, while Brett Switzer is at 3-8-11 in nine career games.
Up Next: After this week's stretch of games, the Falcons are back at home the weekend of Dec. 5 for a series against Air Force. The following weekend they close out the first half of the season with a two game set at AIC in Springfield.