The Matchup: The Falcons return to Bentley Arena this weekend for a two game series against Atlantic Hockey rivals Sacred Heart. Friday's game at gets underway at 7:05 pm and Saturday's game is a 6:05 puck drop.

Bentley split its two games at the Arena last weekend. They defeated Holy Cross 7-4 for its first Atlantic Hockey win of the season, then dropped a 4-2 decision to UMass Lowell from Hockey East. The Falcons will come into this weekend's series with a 1-1-1 AHA record.

Sacred Heart was off last weekend, and this weekend's games will be their first AHA games of the year. They began the season with two defeats to Northeastern at home, dropping 5-2 and 5-0 games. They battled to a 2-2 tie with Providence on Oct. 20, which was their most recent outing.

Follow the Games: Tickets for games at Bentley Arena and parking at the arena can be purchased all season at the following link: https://www.etix.com/ticket/v/12892/the-bentley-arena

All Bentley Atlantic Hockey games, and all home games, can again be seen on AtlanticHockey.TV this season. Bentley's channel can be accessed at the following link: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/bentleyhockey/

The cost is $104.99 for the season, and $10.99 for a day pass.

Freshmen Go Off: Three different freshmen, Jakov Novak, Will Garin and Dylan Pitera all scored their first career goals in the win over Holy Cross. Novak and Garin each scored twice, and Pitera lit the lamp once. In fact, all five of the goals were scored in the 2^nd period. Pitera struck first at the 3:07 mark, followed by two straight from Garin at 5:38 and 10:15. It was then Novak's turn, when he scored less than two minutes apart at the 16:20 and 18:16 marks, both on the power play.

Novak was recognized as the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week for his performance in that game.

Santerno Helps Out: Sophomore center Luke Santerno tallied 4 assists in the Holy Cross game, all in the 2^nd period. That is one off the program record of 5 assists in a single game, which has happened four times, most recently in the 1999-00 season by Mike Spengler.

Santerno is currently tied for the Atlantic Hockey lead with 7 assists on the season, which is 4^th most nationally.

Jago Named a Candidate for Senior CLASS Award: Senior captain Tanner Jago was named one of just 15 candidates nationally for the hockey Senior CLASS Award, which recognizes excellence in community, character, classroom and competition.

A three-time Atlantic Hockey All-Academic team selection, he has played the most career games at 119, and is tied for the most points with 64 among AHA defensemen.

He joins Bentley alumni Max French and Andrew Gladiuk to have been named a candidate for the Senior CLASS award in recent years. The 10 finalists will be announced in February, and the winner at the Frozen Four in April.

Series History: This weekend's games will be the 72^nd and 73^rd all-time meetings between Bentley and Sacred Heart. That makes the Pioneers Bentley's most played opponent. The teams met in the first round of the AHA playoffs two years in a row in 2015-16 and 2016-17, with Bentley winning both in three games.

Up Next: Bentley will fly out to the Rocky Mountains for a two game series against Air Force next weekend. Bentley did not play their last season, but is 3-2-1 in its last three trips out there. The games begin at 9:05 eastern on Friday and 9:35 on Saturday.