Bentley Visits UNH on Sunday in Game Televised on NESN
The Matchup: Bentley returns from its winter break on Sunday to visit the UNH Wildcats of Hockey East in a game that will be televised live on NESN at 5:00 pm. The game can also be seen on TSN2 in Canada.
This will be the third meeting all-time between the two programs. The teams split the previous two games. UNH won the first game in the 2015-16 season, 5-4 in a contest that had five lead changes and four ties. The Falcons then won the following year, 5-1 in a game that opened the 2016-17 season for both squads.
Sunday's game will be Bentley's fourth this season against a Hockey East team, while this will be UNH's only game this season against an Atlantic Hockey team.
Last Time Out: Bentley was last in action on Dec. 4 against Harvard at Bentley Arena. In a game that went down to the wire, the Crimson held on for a 2-1 win. The game was scoreless after the first period, but Harvard took a 1-0 lead 1:18 into the 2nd period on a goal by Jack Drury, and went up 2-0 when Jack Donato scored at 6:10 of the 3rd period.
Bentley made it a one goal game with 6:54 remaining when sophomore Brendan Hamblet netted his 3rd goal of the season. However Harvard was able to hang on the rest of the way. The Falcons ended the game with a 25-23 edge in shots on goal.
Bentley vs. Hockey East: The Falcons claimed their 10th win over a Hockey East school since 2008-09 when they defeated Boston College, 4-2 back on Nov. 23. After a scoreless first period, Bentley jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd period on goals by defenseman Tanner Jago and freshman Will Garin. Sophomore defenseman Matt Lombardozzi made it 3-0 early in the 3rd period before BC clawed back two goals, but an empty net tally by junior Jake Kauppila with 1:07 remaining sealed it.
Junior goaltender Aidan Pelino made 23 saves in the win.
Bentley's other wins against Hockey East teams since 08-09 have come against UMass-Lowell (17-18), UNH (16-17), Northeastern (15-16 (2), 12-13, 10-11), BU (13-14), UMass (09-10) and Maine (08-09).
Series Notes: Of the eight players that got on the scoresheet from Bentley's 5-1 win over UNH two seasons ago, five are still on the team. Jonathan Desbiens, who was playing in his first collegiate game, had one goal and one assist. Defensemen Connor Brassard, also playing in his first game, and Alexey Solovyev had goals as well. Tanner Jago and Jake Kauppila had assists.
Team Notes: Jonathan Desbiens has a six game points streak going with one goal and six assists, which is the longest points streak by a Bentley player this season. Desbiens reached 50 career points with an assist in the Mercyhurst game on Dec. 1.
Sophomore center Luke Santerno is T-10th in Atlantic Hockey in points with 15, and T-3rd in assists with 12. Senior Drew Callin is T-11th in goals with 6. Tanner Jago is T-6th in power play points with 8 and T-5th in points among defensemen with 13.
Looking at UNH: The Wildcats will come into Sunday's game with an overall record of 4-7-5 and a 1-4-3 mark in Hockey East games. Before the break, they swept Dartmouth in a pair of non-conference games by scores of 3-2 and 4-0.
Sophomore defenseman Max Gildon leads the team with 14 points, while senior forward Ara Nazarian leads the team in goals with six.
In goal, sophomore Mike Robinson has seen most of the work with 11 starts, and he sports a 2.16 GAA and .929 save percentage.
Up Next: The Falcons return to Bentley Arena on Saturday Jan. 5 to take on Dartmouth in the final non-conference game of the season. Bentley defeated the Big Green 5-1 on the road last season. The following weekend Bentley returns to Atlantic Hockey action when they travel out to the Steel City to visit Robert Morris.