Game Notes

The Matchup: The Bentley hockey team will close out the 2017-18 regular season on Saturday with a Senior Night game at Bentley Arena against the AIC Yellow Jackets. Puck drop is 7:05 pm and can be seen on AtlanticHockey.TV

The Falcons opened Bentley Arena last weekend in front of two sold out crowds against Army West Point. They will have the possibility of hosting a first round playoff series at the new arena next weekend with a win on Saturday and some help from other teams leading up to the game.

Prior to Saturday's game the team's six seniors will be honored for their contributions to the program; goalie Jayson Argue, defenseman Chris Buchanan and forwards Kyle Schmidt, Matt Sieckhaus, Ryan McMurphy and Andrew McDonald.

The Playoff Picture: Bentley comes into the weekend with 23 points, tied for 9^th place with Niagara, and one point behind AIC for 8^th place and the final home series spot in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey playoffs next weekend.

For Bentley to host next weekend, they will need to win on Saturday against AIC, and also have results involving AIC, Niagara and Sacred Heart go their way. They will need AIC to either lose or tie on Thursday at Holy Cross, and they will also need Niagara to gain no more than one point in its final two games, which are against Canisius on Friday and Saturday. Sacred Heart must also gain no more than two points from its series with Army.

Last Time Out: Bentley Arena received its grand opening last weekend as the Falcons took the ice for a pair of games against Army West Point and came away with a split. In Friday night's opener, sophomore defenseman Brett Orr scored the first goal in the arena at 2:11 of the 2^nd period to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead. Army tied it a few minutes later on a goal by defenseman Alex Wilkinson, and the game went into the 3^rd period tied 1-1. However, Army reeled off four goals in the final period to take a 5-1 victory.

Bentley turned the tables on Saturday night however, and won its first game in the arena 4-2. Power play goals in the first period from Tanner Jago and Luke Santerno had the Falcons ahead 2-1 after the opening 20 minutes. Army got the only goal of the 2^nd period, from forward Dominic Franco at 18:00, to send the game into the 3^rd period tied 2-2. Sophomore Jake Kauppila scored the go-ahead goal for the Falcons on a breakaway 4:26 into the 3^rd period, and Andrew McDonald sealed it with an empty net goal with nine seconds left.

Sophomore goalie Aidan Pelino made 28 saves to earn the win.

Earlier This Season: Saturday's game will be the fourth meeting this season between the Falcons and Yellow Jackets. The first two games, back in October, ended in ties, which extended the streak of ties in the series to six going back to the 2015-16 season. The first game this season was on Oct. 10 at the JAR which ended in a 3-3 tie. Jake Kauppila had two goals in that game for Bentley. Two weeks later they met in Springfield, with the game ending in a 2-2 tie. Alexey Solovyev and Ryner Gorowsky had the goals for Bentley.

The third meeting was on Dec. 1 in Springfield, which Bentley won 6-2. That started the team's six game winning streak. Six different Falcons scored, and Luke Santerno led the offensive charge with one goal and two assists.

Team Notes: Luke Santerno leads Atlantic Hockey in goals among freshmen (11) and is second in points among freshmen (25). Nationally, he ranks 12^th in points per game among freshmen (0.81). Tanner Jago is 4^th in points among Atlantic Hockey defensemen (23). Kyle Schmidt enters the weekend with 116 career points (53g, 63a), which is eighth most among active players in the NCAA.

Tale of the Tape