Bentley Hosts Army West Point and Arizona State This Weekend
The Matchups: Bentley has won four straight games and will put its winning streak on the line beginning Friday night when they host Army West Point at Bentley Arena. On Saturday night, Arizona State will visit the Arena for the first ever matchup between the two programs.
Bentley swept Niagara last weekend at home, for its second straight sweep. The four wins in a row has vaulted the team up to 5th place in the Atlantic Hockey standings, with 32 points from 23 games played (10-11-2).
Army will come into Friday's game in 3rd place in the AHA with 40 points from 22 games played (12-8-2). Last weekend they split with Canisius at home, with a 3-2 loss in overtime and a 4-2 win.
Arizona State is ranked 11th nationally this week. Competing as an independent, the Sun Devils are 18-9-3 on the season. They take on Holy Cross on Friday night in Worcester before they make the short trip to Waltham. ASU has already played series against three other Atlantic Hockey teams this season, including a sweep last weekend at home against Robert Morris. They also swept RIT at home three weekends ago, and swept Air Force on the road in mid-October.
Follow the Games: The games will be broadcast live on FloHockey.TV, which requires a subscription.
Fans can also follow live stats at the following link: https://bentleyfalcons.com/sports/mice/2019-20/schedule
Tickets for both games are available at https://www.etix.com/ticket/v/12892/the-bentley-arena
Last Time Out: Bentley swept Niagara at the Arena last weekend to run its winning streak to four. The first game was won in overtime 3-2, when senior Jonathan Desbiens scored 1:09 into the extra period on the power play. Sophomore Dylan Pitera got the team off to a good start when he scored 27 seconds into the game, on the first shift and second shot of the game. Sophomore Jakov Novak scored his 15th goal of the season in the 2nd period.
On Saturday, Bentley dominated in a 4-2 win. Luke Santerno and Matt Gosiewski scored in the 1st period, and junior Michael Zuffante netted a power play goal in the 2nd period for a 3-0 lead. Niagara made it close at the end with two extra attacker goals, but a Santerno empty net goal with 37 seconds left sealed it.
Earlier This Season vs. Army: Friday's game will be the 4th meeting this season between Bentley and Army. The Falcons won the first game, 5-0 on Oct. 25 at the Arena. Novak and Zuffante each had two goals. The teams then split a series in West Point on Dec. 6-7. Army won the first game 4-3, but the Falcons earned a split with a 4-2 win in the second game.
Things to Know: Luke Santerno played in his 100th career game on Saturday, and scored twice in the 4-2 win over Niagara to cap the night. He has career numbers of 29 goals and 59 assists for 88 points in 100 games.
Santerno became the 7th player on the Bentley roster to reach the 100 games milestone. The other six are Jonathan Desbiens (131), Brett Orr (131), Connor Brassard (123), Jake Kauppila (123), Matt Riggleman (120) and Ryner Gorowsky (120).
Sophomore Fraser Kirk was named the AHA Goalie of the Week on Tuesday, for the 2nd time this season. He earned the win in both games against Niagara, and posted a .916 combined save percentage. On the season, Kirk is 7-3-1 with a 2.32 goals against average.
Jonathan Desbiens' overtime winning goal on Friday against Niagara was the 7th game-winning goal of his career. He had four last season.
Freshman Matt Gosiewski has the 2nd most points among rookies in the AHA with 22, and he has the most goals with 10. Overall, Gosiewski is T-9th in the AHA in points. Nationally, he is T-13th in points per game among freshmen (0.81).
Sophomore Jakov Novak is 2nd in the AHA with 29 points. He is T-3rd with 15 goals and T-12th in assists with 14 helpers.