Bentley Returns From Break to Visit Sacred Heart Saturday-Sunday
The Matchup: Bentley returns from the semester break with a trip down to Connecticut to take on the Sacred Heart Pioneers on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Both games begin at 1:05 pm from the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.
The Falcons were last in action on Dec. 12 in a 2-2 tie at Dartmouth, and when this series begins on Saturday it will have been 15 days off. They went into the break playing good hockey, with a 4-1-1 record over the last six games. Bentley is 7-9-1 overall and 5-8 in Atlantic Hockey.
Sacred Heart has won five games in a row, and is ranked for the first time in program history at No. 20. They will come into this series with an 11-6-1 record overall and a 10-4 AHA mark.
Follow the Games: The games can be seen on FloHockey.TV, which requires a subscription. Games can be viewed on your desktop, or tablet or smart TV with the FloHockey app.
Last Time Out: Bentley battled back for a 2-2 tie at Dartmouth on Dec. 12. They fell behind 2-0, but fought back with goals in the 2nd and 3rd periods to force overtime. Sophomore Will Garin scored a power play goal at 11:18 of the 2nd period to make it a 2-1 game. Jakov Novak had the primary assist on the goal.
Late in the 3rd period, senior Jonathan Desbiens scored with 2:05 left to tie the game 2-2 with a power play goal off a redirect from Luke Santerno. Neither team scored in OT, and that is how the game ended. Falcons goalie Aidan Pelino made 29 saves.
Desbiens' goal was the second straight season he scored a late, game tying goal against Dartmouth. In last season's game at Bentley Arena, he scored with 19 seconds left in the 3rd period to knot the game 3-3, which is how it ended in overtime.
Player of the Week: Desbiens was named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week on Dec. 17 for his play in the Dartmouth game. He had the tying goal late, and also assisted on Garin's goal in the 2nd period.
It's the second time in his career he has been named Player of the Week, with the first being in November of the 2017-18 season as a sophomore. This season, the Montreal native is 2nd on the team with 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists).
Things to Know: Bentley and Sacred Heart have played 73 times prior to this weekend. That makes the Pioneers Bentley's most played opponent all-time, just ahead of Army (72) and Holy Cross (70).
This will be Bentley's first games at Sacred Heart since the 2016-17 season. The last seven games in the series have been hosted by Bentley, including a series victory for the Falcons in the first round of the 2017 AHA playoffs.
Last season the teams played twice, and split at Bentley Arena on Nov. 2-3. Each team won 3-2. Bentley won the second game in overtime on a goal by Drew Callin at 3:06.
Sophomore Jakov Novak is the 4th leading scorer in Atlantic Hockey with 17 points (9g, 8a). He is tied for 4th in goals. Freshman Matt Gosiewski has the 2nd most points in the AHA among rookies with 11. Both he and Novak have three game-winning goals on the season, tied for 2nd most nationally.
Both Novak and junior Brendan Hamblet have two shorthanded goals, tied for 2nd most nationally. As a team, Bentley's five shorthanded goals are tied for the national lead with Boston College and Sacred Heart.
Sophomore goalie Fraser Kirk has the 3rd best GAA in the league (2.07) among qualified goalies. He was named the AHA Goalie of the Week on Dec. 3 after he went 3-0 in a week with wins over Brown and two over Holy Cross.
Up Next: Bentley's next game will be on Monday, January 6 at Northeastern. The game will air on NESN.