Bentley Visits Dartmouth Thursday Night for Final Game of First Half
The Matchup: Bentley will close out the first half of its season on Thursday night with a trip to visit the Dartmouth College Big Green for a non-conference game. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+, which requires a subscription.
The Falcons (7-9, 5-8 AHA) split at Army West Point last weekend, and will come into this game having won four of its last five games. Dartmouth (4-3-1, 4-2-1 ECAC) is coming off a signature win on Saturday, when they defeated then No. 2 ranked Cornell, 2-1 at home.
Follow the Game: Thursday's game can be seen on ESPN+, which requires a subscription. Live stats can be found at the following link: https://dartmouthsports.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
Last Time Out: The Falcons earned a split at Army West Point last weekend. Bentley dropped the first game 4-3, but nearly rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the 3rd period with goals by sophomore Will Schlagenhauf and junior Brendan Hamblet. Sophomore Brendan Walkom also had a goal in the 1st period.
Bentley though turned it around on Saturday and earned a 4-2 victory. The Falcons scored twice in the 2nd period to take a 3-1 lead, with the goals by defenseman Luke Orysiuk and freshman Matt Gosiewski. Army made it a 3-2 game with a goal early in the 3rd period, but Walkom scored at 11:02 of the period to make it 4-2. Falcons goalie Aidan Pelino made 21 saves to earn the win.
Things to Know: Brendan Hamblet and Brendan Walkom both scored in each game last weekend at Army. Hamblet is tied for 2nd on the team in points (11), with freshman Matt Gosiewski. Both players are tied for 2nd on the team in goals as well (6). Sophomore Jakov Novak leads the team in each of goals (9), assists (7) and points (16) this season.
In Atlantic Hockey, Novak is tied for 5th in points and tied for 4th in goals.
Gosiewski is tied for the 2nd most points among freshmen in Atlantic Hockey with 11.
Bentley has scored five shorthanded goals, which is tied for the most nationally with Boston College and Sacred Heart. Novak and Hamblet are both tied for 2nd nationally with two shorthanded goals.
Novak and Gosiewski are tied for 5th nationally in game-winning goals, each with three.
Looking at Dartmouth: The Big Green are currently 5th in the ECAC standings with 9 points on a 4-2-1 conference record. On Saturday they handed Cornell its first loss of the season, 2-1 behind goals by Jeff Losurdo and Matt Baker, and 39 saves by goalie Adrian Clark.
Dartmouth also has wins over Princeton, Yale and Brown this season.
The team's leading scorer is sophomore Drew O'Connor (4-6-10). Junior Matt Baker and senior Will Graber also have four goals on the season to tie with O'Connor for the team lead. In goal Clark, a senior, has started seven games this season and 48 in his career.
Series History: Thursday's game will be the 5th all-time meeting between Bentley and Dartmouth and the third year in a row they have played. Last season's game at Bentley Arena ended in a 3-3 tie, as Jonathan Desbiens scored the tying goal with 19 seconds left.
Two seasons ago up in Hanover, the Falcons won 5-1. Luke Santerno and Jake Kauppila were among the goal scorers, and Aidan Pelino made 30 saves to earn the win.
The Big Green won the first two meetings in 2007-08 and 2012-13.
Up Next: The Falcons will be off for the next two plus weeks for the holiday break. They will return to the ice to start the second half of the season on Dec. 28-29 at Sacred Heart.