Bentley Hosts Air Force as Regular Season Hits Homestretch
Game Notes
THE MATCHUP: Bentley welcomes in Air Force this weekend to Bentley Arena on the second to last weekend of the regular season. It's a big series with both teams fighting for a first round bye and home-ice for the quarterfinal round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament.
Bentley comes into the weekend with a 10-11-1 AHA record for 31 points, which has them in 7th place. Air Force is 9-11-2 in the AHA for 30 points, which has them in 8th place.
This will be the second series of the season between the two teams. They met in Colorado back in mid-November and the result was a split. Air Force won the first game 2-1 but Bentley took the second contest 5-4. Junior Matt Gosiewski had two goals in that game to power the offense and junior goalie Jason Grande made 38 saves for the win.
FOLLOW THE GAMES: Both games can be seen live on FloHockey.TV. A subscription is required.
Live stats for each game can be found at https://bentleyfalcons.com/sports/mice/2021-22/schedule
Tickets for the games this weekend can be purchased at the following link: https://www.etix.com/ticket/v/12892/the-bentley-arena
If you are planning to attend, please note Bentley University's spectator policy: https://bentleyfalcons.com/information/Spectators_Policy
LAST TIME OUT: Bentley dropped a pair of games at Sacred Heart last weekend. The Pioneers won the first game 5-3. The Bentley goals came from Kohei Sato, Cole Kodsi and Brendan Hamblet. SHU then took the second contest 3-1. Bentley's goal came from freshman Danny Pearson.
ATLANTIC HOCKEY STANDINGS: With just two weekends left in the regular season, the AHA standings are tightly bunched. Just seven points separate Canisius in 2nd place and Air Force in 8th place. The top-six teams get a bye to the quarterfinals, and the 7th-10th placed teams will play a best-of-three series in the first round, on March 4-6.
AIC has a big lead in first place with 48 points, but behind them it is tightly bunched. Canisius has 37 points, Sacred Heart 35, Army West Point 34, RIT and Niagara 32, Bentley 31, Air Force 30, Mercyhurst 27 and Holy Cross 24
The quarterfinal round, featuring the six teams that received a bye and the two winners from the first round, is a best-of-three series from March 11-13.
The semifinals and finals will take place in Utica, N.Y. on March 18 and 19.
SERIES NOTES: The all-time series is 35-18-6 in favor of Air Force after the split of the first series earlier this season.
Bentley has a 4-1 record against Air Force at Bentley Arena, including a 7-3 win in the first round of the 2021 postseason. In that win, Brendan Walkom had two goals and two assists to lead the offense.
TEAM NOTES: Senior defenseman Ethan Roswell ranks 5th nationally in blocks with 66.
Drew Bavaro is T-11th nationally in points among defensemen with 24. He ranks T-6th nationally in goals among defensemen.
Teammate Matt Lombardozzi is T-8th in goals among defensemen with 8. His 7 power play goals are T-8th nationally.
UP NEXT: Bentley will close out the regular season next weekend with a home and home series against Holy Cross. The first game on the 25th is at home before the series shifts to Worcester.