Ryner Gorowsky
Ryner Gorowsky

Air Force Rallies Past Bentley 4-2 in Final Game at the JAR

 

WATERTOWN, Mass. – Air Force scored three goals in the third period as they rallied past Bentley for a 4-2 victory in the final game at the JAR on Saturday night.

Bentley led 2-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second period, but Air Force scored the game's final three goals to come away with a series split. The defeat snapped Bentley's four game winning streak.

Sophomore Ryner Gorowsky (Lino Lakes, Minn.) got Bentley on the board with a goal at 7:51 as he went five hole on Air Force goalie Billy Christopoulos with a shot from the left wing. About six minutes later sophomore Jake Kauppila (Gurnee, Ill.) then gave Bentley a 2-0 lead with his second goal of the weekend after he deked around Christopoulos for the goal.

Towards the end of the period, a glass panel in the far corner of the rink became dislodged, which caused about a 10 minute delay and seemed to halt Bentley's momentum.

Just past the midway point of the second period, Air Force scored its first goal of the weekend off the stick of Matt Serratore for a power play goal. Just 39 seconds after Serratore's goal, Air Force's Erich Jaeger was called for a five minute major penalty, but Bentley could not convert which seemed to shift the momentum towards the visitors.

Bentley still led 2-1 into the third period, but Air Force found the tying goal with another tally on the power play, this one from Evan Giesler at the 8:09 mark. Less than three minutes after that, defenseman Alex Mehnert put them in front with a snipe from the point that got through traffic.

Bentley pulled goalie Jayson Argue (Swan River, Manitoba) with 51 seconds remaining in favor of the extra attacker and in search of the tying goal, but Air Force's Brady Tomlak sealed it with an empty net goal from the defensive zone to provide the final 4-2 score.

With the JAR era in the books after 42 years, Bentley turns its sights towards its new on campus home Bentley Arena, which will open its doors next Friday night for the first game vs. Army West Point.