Bentley Set to Tussle with Northeastern; Saturday's Game at Home
The Matchup: After opening last weekend with Atlantic Hockey foe Mercyhurst, Bentley takes a step out of conference to take on the Northeastern Huskies from Hockey East in a home-and-home series. It will be the first matchups between the two programs since the 2012-13 season. Friday's game is at Matthews Arena in Boston, and Saturday's tilt takes place at Ryan Arena in Watertown.
Bentley opened up with two games at home to Mercyhurst last weekend and dropped both games by scores of 3-1 and 3-2. Sophomore Andrew McDonald scored all three goals for the Falcons, while his line mate Ryan McMurphy had two assists.
The Huskies opened up last Saturday with a 2-1 home win over Colgate. Sophomore forward Noah Stevens broke a 1-1 tie in the 3rd period with the go-ahead goal at the 11:48 mark, after his older brother John had scored earlier in the game.
How to Follow: Friday's game will be streamed online for free and an audio only broadcast from Matthews will be streamed for free as well. Saturday's game at home will be streamed live on EverSport. Visit BentleyFalcons.com for more information.
Series History: The series history is tied 2-2 with all four games being played at Matthews. Northeastern won the first two meetings, 4-1 and 3-2 in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. Bentley though won the third meeting 2-1 during the 2010-11 season on the strength of 3rd period goals by Erik Peterson and Brett Gensler after falling behind 1-0.
The Falcons then won the last meeting 6-3 on Jan. 5, 2013. Bentley led 3-1 after two periods, but NU rallied to tie with two goals in the first 5:13 of the 3rd period. The Falcons though reeled off three unanswered, including the go-ahead goal by Derek Bacon at the 7:27 mark.
On this year's team, only Bacon, Michael Reardon and Matt Blomquist played in that game.
Bentley vs. Hockey East: Bentley has a 5-8 record all-time in games played against schools played in Hockey East. Besides a 2-2 record against Northeastern, the Falcons are 1-0 vs. Boston Univ., 0-1 vs. Merrimack, 1-1 vs. UMass and 0-5 vs. UMass-Lowell.
After this weekend, Bentley has three more games vs. Hockey East teams. Home vs. Merrimack (Nov. 4), and at BU (Nov. 24) and UNH (Nov. 28).
Argue on Richter Award Watch List: Sophomore goalie Jayson Argue was one of 20 goalies named to the Mike Richter Award Watch List, given to the most outstanding goalie in Division I at the end of the season. As a freshman last season, Argue finished the season 4th nationally in save percentage (.934) and 11th in GAA (2.00).
Debuts: Eight freshmen made their Bentley debuts over the weekend against Mercyhurst. Defenseman Tanner Jago notched an assist in Friday's game. Forwards Cody DePourcq, Jake Ahlgren and T.J. Dumonceaux and defensemen Jago and Alexey Solovyev played in both games. Forwards Drew Callin and Danny Kucerovy and defenseman Andy Chugg made their debuts as well.
Looking at NU: The Huskies were picked 4th in the Hockey East Preseason Coaches' Poll. They went 16-16-4 overall and 11-9-2 within Hockey East to finish 6th last season. They were knocked out of the Hockey East Playoffs in the opening round in two games by Merrimack. Last season's leading scorer is senior Kevin Roy, who is a draft pick of the Anaheim Ducks. They had seven players record at least 20 points last season, and all are back, including defenseman Matt Benning, a draft pick of the Boston Bruins.
Last season's starting goalie Clay Witt graduated but his backup Derick Roy returned and started the opener vs. Colgate. He started 14 games last season.
Up Next: Bentley is off next weekend. They return to the ice on Saturday, Oct. 31 at Army, and the following day the teams will square off at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.