Bentley Set to Face Niagara in Atlantic Hockey Playoffs First Round
Game Notes
THE MATCHUP: With the regular season in the books Bentley now sets its sights on the Atlantic Hockey Playoffs. The Falcons are matched up with Niagara in a first round, best of three series at Niagara's Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, NY.
The first two games get underway at 7:05 PM. If necessary, game three would be on Sunday at 5:05 PM. All games can be seen on FloHockey.TV.
This will be the first ever playoff matchup between the two programs.
FOLLOW THE GAMES: Every game during the Atlantic Hockey playoffs can be seen on FloHockey.TV. A subscription is required.
Live stats will be available at https://purpleeagles.com/sidearmstats/mhockey/summary
ATLANTIC HOCKEY PLAYOFFS: There are two first round series this weekend. The Bentley-Niagara series is the 8-9 matchup and Mercyhurst hosts Holy Cross in the 7-10 matchup. Two series for the quarterfinals next weekend are already set. Army West Point will host Air Force in the 3-6 matchup and RIT will host Sacred Heart in the 4-5 matchup.
AIC and Canisius are the top two seeds. The Yellow Jackets will host the lowest remaining seed next weekend and Canisius the second lowest seed remaining.
EARLIER THIS SEASON: This is the second matchup of the season between Bentley and Niagara. The teams met at Dwyer Arena on Feb. 4 and 5 and the Purple Eagles won both games, by scores of 6-5 and 3-2.
In the first game Bentley trailed 3-0 going into the 3rd period. They scored three goals in a span of less than four minutes, but a Purple Eagles goal in the middle of that run meant they still led 4-3. Niagara then scored twice more to take a 6-3 lead, but Bentley scored two late goals to make the final score 6-5.
Graduate student Collin Rutherford had two goals and Drew Bavaro, Matt Gosiewski and Dylan Pitera each had two assists.
The five goals the Falcons scored in that 3rd period matched their season high for goals in a period. They scored five goals in the 3rd period of the win over Boston College on Oct. 16.
Niagara then won the second game 3-2. Lucas Vanroboys scored 51 seconds into the game to give Bentley an early lead, but Niagara scored three goals in the 2nd period. Gosiewski notched a goal for the Falcons in the 3rd period.
TEAM NOTES: Sophomore Drew Bavaro finished the regular season leading Bentley in goals (9) and points (25) and tied for the team lead in assists (16). He is the first Bentley defenseman to lead the team in points since Steve Tobio in the 2000-01 season.
Bavaro finished the regular season leading Atlantic Hockey in points among defensemen. His 16 assists are tied for the 5th most overall in the league, and his 9 goals are tied for 9th overall.
Senior defenseman Ethan Roswell is T-5th nationally in blocks with 77.
Graduate student center Brendan Hamblet is just two games away from becoming the 3rd player in program history to play in 150 career games. The program record is 153, held by Kyle Schmidt, Class of 2018.
Graduate student defenseman Matt Lombardozzi is tied for 11th nationally in power play goals with 7. That is the second most in the AHA this season.
Sophomore Cole Kodsi has 8 goals and 12 assists this season for 20 points after registering two points in 16 games as a freshman. 11 of his 20 points have come in the second half of the season, on five goals and six assists.
Kodsi, Bavaro and Gosiewski each have 11 points to lead the team in the 2nd half of the season. Kodsi though did it in 13 games and Bavaro and Gosiewski each played in all 15 second half games.
UP NEXT: Should Bentley win this series and advance, they will play either at AIC if Mercyhurst beats Holy Cross, or they will play at Canisius if Holy Cross beats the Lakers.