Game Notes

The Matchup: The Bentley hockey team returns to the JAR this weekend to host the Mercyhurst Lakers. One of only two, two game series at home in the fall semester, the series gets underway Friday night. Both games are a 7:05 puck drop.

The Falcons are coming off a 2-2 tie with AIC on the road. All four of the team's games so far have been Atlantic Hockey games, and will continue that way until they play Merrimack on the road on Nov.10.

Mercyhurst tied two games with Holy Cross on opening weekend on the road, then split with WHCA member Ferris State at home last weekend. The Lakers lost the first game 3-2, but rebounded to win the second game 4-1.

Follow the Games: All Bentley Atlantic Hockey games, home and away, will air on AtlanticHockey.TV, powered by Stretch Internet. The cost for a regular season pass is $104.99, and a day pass is $10.99.

New this season, the service can be accessed using Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV.

Last Time Out: Bentley overcame a 2-0 first period to deficit to battle back for a 2-2 tie with AIC on Tuesday night. The comeback started when defenseman Alexey Solovyev scored a power play goal at 3:42 of the 2^nd period. In the 3^rd period, sophomore Ryner Gorowsky struck off a rebound from a shot by defenseman Connor Brassard with 6:24 left in regulation to tie the score 2-2.

Falcons goalie Jayson Argue made 30 saves on the night, with 18 of those in the 3^rd period. He was coming off a 42 save effort at Holy Cross on Oct. 20. That was the 5^th time in his career he's made 40+ saves in a game.

Last Season's Series: These two teams played a closely contest series last season at the JAR that resulted in a split, with both games decided by 2-1 scores. In the first game, Matt Riggleman scored for the Falcons in the 1^st period, but Mercyhurst scored the go-ahead goal from Philippe Drouin at 5:44 of the 3^rd period. One night later, Bentley won 2-1 behind goals from Riggleman and defenseman Mike Berry, and 33 saves from Argue.

This will be the 4^th straight time during the regular season that Mercyhurst has visited the JAR, and all the games have been tight. 2014-15 saw Bentley come away with three points on a 4-4 tie and 5-4 OT win. In 2015-16, the Lakers swept by scores of 3-1 and 3-2 on opening weekend. Last season, the teams split, with both games decided by 2-1 scores.

Including the 2015 quarterfinal playoff series at the JAR between these two teams that Mercyhurst won in three games, the Lakers are 5-3 in the last eight games in the series at the JAR. The total goals scored couldn't be much closer at 24-22 for Mercyhurst. These two teams also played a memorable game that 2014-15 season out in Erie, that saw Bentley win 4-3. They trailed 3-0 just 11 minutes into the 1^st period, but fought back to tie in the 3^rd period. Kyle Schmidt, then a freshman, scored the winning goal with just 16 seconds remaining.

Looking at Bentley So Far: Through this early point of the season, Schmidt and Jonathan Desbiens are tied for the team lead in points, each with three. Sophomore Jake Kauppila leads the squad with two goals.

Four of the team's eight goals scored so far have been on the power play.

Seven of the team's nine freshman have made their debuts so far. Michael Zuffante, who scored his first goal last Saturday at Holy Cross, and defensemen Charlie Marchand and Matt Lombardozzi, have each played in all four games.

Looking at Mercyhust: Led by 30^th year head coach Rick Gotkin, the Lakers have a veteran roster that features 22 juniors and seniors among the 31 players on the active roster. One of the team's co-captains, senior Jack Riley, is the son of Army head coach Brian Riley. Junior Derek Barach leads the team in goals (2) and points (5). Classmate Taylor Best has two goals as well. Junior Lester Lancaster leads with four assists. Senior goalie Brandon Wildung has started all four games in goal so far.

Up Next: Bentley heads to upstate New York next weekend for a series against Niagara. That's the start of a five game road trip for the Falcons, which

Tale of the Tape