Game Notes

The Matchup: Bentley will take on Boston College on Friday afternoon at Conte Forum in the first ever meeting between the two programs. The game can be seen live on ESPN3 at 3:00 pm at the following link: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3452747/bentley-vs-boston-college

The Falcons, who also travel to Atlantic Hockey rival Holy Cross on Saturday night at 7:05, come into the weekend off a split with Army West Point at Bentley Arena. They dropped the first game 3-2, before rebounding with a 4-2 victory on Saturday night.

The Eagles, in the middle of a five game home stand, played just once last weekend in a 2-2 tie with New Hampshire, another team Bentley will see later this season. BC is 3-5-1 overall and 3-1-1 in Hockey East thus far.

Last Time Out: Bentley split with Army last weekend at the Arena. In Saturday's 4-2 win, 3^rd period goals from Jonathan Desbiens, Alexey Solovyev and Luke Santerno turned a 1-1 game into a 4-2 win. Desbiens lit the lamp at the 3:02 mark with his 3^rd goal of the season to give Bentley the 2-1 lead. Then just past the halfway point of the period, Solovyev blasted in a one-timer from sophomore Brendan Hamblet to make it a 3-1 game.

Army would score an extra-attacker goal with 48 seconds remaining to cut into the lead at 3-2, but Santerno netted an empty-net goal with three seconds left to seal the win.

In Friday's series opener, Bentley took a 2-1 lead at 6:41 of the 3^rd period on senior Drew Callin's team leading 5^th goal of the season. But Army tied it on a power play goal just under three minutes later, then scored the eventual game-winner short-handed at 12:31.

Callin's goal in that game was a USCHO Top 5 Play of the Week: https://www.uscho.com/2018/11/19/uscho-com-presents-its-ncaa-division-i-plays-of-the-week-nov-15-18/

Looking at the Stats: Callin leads the team in goals so far with five, while Santerno leads the team in both assists (10) and points (13). Santerno is T-3^rd in Atlantic Hockey in points and 4^th in assists. Senior captain Tanner Jago is T-7^th in the AHA in points among defensemen with 8.

Bentley has the 4^th ranked scoring offense in the AHA with 2.82 goals per game, and the power play checks in at 5^th at 17.0%

Bentley vs. Hockey East: Bentley has already faced two Hockey East teams this season in Merrimack and UMass-Lowell, both at home, and gave both teams battles despite defeats of 1-0 and 4-2, respectively.

The Falcons have beaten a Hockey East team in eight of the last 10 seasons, with the wins coming against six different teams; UMass-Lowell (2017-18), UNH (16-17), Northeastern (10-11, 12-13, 15-16), Boston Univ. (13-14), UMass (09-10) and Maine (08-09). They will travel to UNH on Dec. 30.

Last Time vs. Holy Cross: Bentley scored a 7-4 win over Holy Cross at the Arena back on Oct. 26. Six of the goals came in the 2^nd period, with freshmen Jakov Novak and Will Garin each scoring twice in the period, and freshman Dylan Pitera lit the lamp in the period as well. That was the first career goal for each.

Bentley will be playing just its 6^th game at the Hart Center on Saturday since the 2013-14 season, and they are 2-3 in that time. The teams will meet again in a home-and-home series on the penultimate weekend of the regular season on Feb. 22-23.

BC So Far: The Eagles, who feature 11 NHL draft picks on their roster, endured an 0-5 start to the season but are 3-0-1 in their last four games. They defeated Merrimack at home 4-1 on Nov. 3 for the first win of the season, then swept Vermont at home the following weekend by scores of 4-1 and 3-2, followed by last weekend's 2-2 tie with UNH.

The leading goal scorer is junior David Cotton, a draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, with 9 so far. Junior goalie Joseph Woll, a draft pick of Toronto, has started eight of their nine games.

Up Next: After this weekend's games, the Falcons return to Bentley Arena for three home games in five days to close out the first half of the season. They host Mercyhurst on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, before they host Harvard on Tuesday, Dec. 4.