Bentley Gets Back at it with Series at Niagara
The Matchup: After a successful series with Army West Point that included a win at Frozen Fenway, the Bentley hockey team is back at it this weekend, as they hit the road for a series at Niagara University in upstate New York. Friday's game gets underway at 7:05, and Saturday's game is set for a 3:05 start.
The Falcons (5-10-5, 4-6-4 AHC) took three points from the Black Knights last week, who entered the series in 1st place in Atlantic Hockey. After a 3-1 win at Fenway Park, they battled back for a 5-5 tie in the series' 2nd game with three unanswered goals over the final 10:43 of the 3rd period. Those results saw Bentley jump into 8th place in the standings with 12 points, just three points out of the top-five.
Niagara is coming off a sweep at the hands of Holy Cross out in Worcester in a pair of close games. The Crusaders won the first game 3-1, followed by a 2-1 victory in the series finale.
Follow the Games: Both games can be seen live on AtlanticHockey.TV, and live stats will be available both nights as well.
For those that live in the Buffalo area, Friday's game can be seen on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.
Last Time Out: Bentley won at Frozen Fenway for the 2nd straight time with a 3-1 victory over Army on Jan. 5. This followed Bentley's win over Holy Cross in its first game at Fenway during the 2013-14 season. Goals by Alexey Solovyev and Drew Callin, on the power play, had the Falcons in front 2-1 going into the 3rd period. Goaltender Jayson Argue and co. kept the lead intact, and freshman defenseman Brett Orr sealed the game with an empty-net goal with 10 seconds remaining.
The next night back at the JAR, Bentley staged one of its biggest comebacks in recent memory. Down 5-2 in the 3rd period, they scored three unanswered over the final 10:43 to earn a 5-5 tie. The goals all came against Army goaltender Parker Gahagen, who entered the weekend with the 3rd best goals against average in the nation. Power play goals by Max French and Kyle Schmidt cut the deficit to 5-4, and set the stage for defenseman Chris Buchanan to fire in the tying goal off an offensive zone face-off win with 1:47 left.
Defenseman of the Week: Brett Orr led Bentley in scoring in the Army series with four points, one goal and three assists, and was named the AHC Defenseman of the Week. His game-sealing goal at Frozen Fenway was the first of his career, and he notched three assists in the 5-5 tie one night later. He's the 3rd Bentley player to have three assists in a game, the other two are Max French (at UNH, Oct. 8) and Kyle Schmidt (vs. Robert Morris, Dec. 9).
Orr is also the 2nd Bentley player this season to be named Defenseman of the Week, joining Alexey Solovyev (Oct. 18).
Series History: This weekend will be just the 13th and 14th all-time meetings between the two programs. Niagara leads the series 8-2-2. Last year's series, played at Dwyer Arena last December, saw the Purple Eagles win the first game 6-4, but Bentley take the 2nd game 3-1. In the win, Drew Callin scored twice, and Max French opened the scoring 30 seconds into the first period.
Bentley hasn't hosted Niagara at the JAR since the 2014-15 season, which saw a series split.
Max French has six goals in eight career games against NU. That total includes his only career hat trick, which came in a 6-0 win at the JAR on Nov. 7, 2014. Goalie Jayson Argue has never faced them.
Up Next: Next weekend, Bentley will face Sacred Heart for the first time this season, in a home-and-home series. The series will begin on Jan. 20 at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. The game can be seen on NESN Plus. One night later, the series will shift to the JAR in Watertown.