Bentley Hosts Robert Morris to Close Out First Half
The Matchup: The first half of the Bentley hockey team's season will come to a close this weekend when the Falcons host Robert Morris at the JAR. The series gets underway on Friday night at 7:05, and Saturday's game has an earlier start time of 4:05. Both games can be seen live on AtlanticHockey.TV.
This matchup will be a rematch of last season's Atlantic Hockey quarterfinal series between the two teams. The top-seeded Colonials ended up winning the series 2-1, but not before Bentley won game one 4-3 and gave them all they could handle. The Falcons got to that point by dispatching Sacred Heart in a first round series, 2-1.
This time around, Bentley comes into the weekend with a 2-5-3 Atlantic Hockey record after a series at Canisius that saw them drop the first game (4-3) and tie the second contest (3-3).
Robert Morris, meanwhile, has a 6-3-1 AHC record after a home sweep of Sacred Heart last weekend (4-2, 2-1).
Follow the Games: For the first time, tickets to home games at the JAR can be purchased in advance online. For those that can't make it, both games will be live on AtlanticHockey.TV. Click on the link to learn about pricing plans, which include day and season passes.
Live stats for Friday's game and Saturday's game will also be available.
Last Time Out: Bentley and Canisius battled in a pair of hard-fought, close games last weekend in Buffalo that saw the hosts take the first game 4-3, and the 2nd game end in a 3-3 tie. In the first game, Bentley led 2-1 after two goals in the opening 4:33 of the 2nd period from Max French and Ryner Gorowsky. The Griffs, though, would score three unanswered over the rest of the period to take a 4-2 lead. The Falcons got to within 4-3 late with an extra-attacker goal from defenseman Tanner Jago with 2:57 left in the 3rd, but Canisius hung on.
In game two, all six of the game's goals were scored in the 1st period. Bentley led 2-0 early with goals from French and Kyle Schmidt. Canisius fought back and tied it 2-2, before the teams traded goals to end the period tied 3-3. French scored his 2nd goal of the period at 16:33. Bentley freshman goalie Aidan Pelino made his first career start, and stopped 33 shots.
Gorowsky Named Rookie of Week: Forward Ryner Gorowsky was named the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week on Tuesday. He was Bentley's co-leading scorer in the Canisius series with four points on one goal and three assists.
Gorowsky, who just returned to the ice two weekends ago after missing 7 straight games, had 1 goal and 1 assist in the first game of the series on Friday night. In Saturday's 3-3 tie, he had the primary assist on Kyle Schmidt's goal at 8:12 of the 1st period, and an assist on Max French's goal at 16:33 of the 1st.
The Minnesota native has a team best four-game scoring streak going with two goals and four assists for six points. He's T-3rd on the team in scoring with 7 points (2g, 5a), despite playing in just 6 games this season.
Series Notes
- This series will be Robert Morris' first visit to the JAR since the 2013-14 season. Bentley swept that series 4-1 and 7-2. Alex Grieve had a hat trick in the first game, and Andrew Gladiuk had five points (2g, 3a) in the second game.
- The last seven games in this series have been played in Pittsburgh. In the 2014-15 regular season, the teams split, with Bentley winning the second game 1-0 behind a shutout by Jayson Argue and a Max French goal. The Colonials swept the regular season series last year (5-1, 5-0), then took two out of three in the quarterfinals series.
- Robert Morris has a slim lead in the all-time series, 9-8-2.
- Argue has strong career numbers against RMU. In three starts, he has a 2.34 GAA and .937 save percentage.
Other Notes for the Weekend: French's four-point weekend at Canisius (3g, 1a) moved him up to a tie for 7th in Atlantic Hockey in points (15) … French is currently 4th among active players in the NCAA in career points (119), T-4th in goals (55) and T-8th in assists (64) … the Falcons have a power play goal in 3 out of the last 5 games … RMU has the league's top three scorers in Brady Ferguson (25), Alex Tonge (20) and Daniel Leavens (19).
Up Next: Bentley will be off until Friday, Dec. 30 when they head north for a two-game, non-conference series at the University of Vermont. It will be the first ever games between the two programs.