Bentley Visits RIT This Weekend for Games Broadcast by NESN+
The Matchup: Bentley visits RIT this weekend for a pair of games that will be broadcast live on NESN+. Friday's game begins at 7:05 PM and Saturday's game begins at 5:05 PM. Additionally, Friday's game will be replayed on NESN at midnight that evening.
The Falcons are coming off a four-point series against AIC last week. They defeated the Yellow Jackets 4-3 on the road and tied the second game at home 2-2. That game went to a shootout that saw AIC win in the 4th round, 2-1.
With four games left in the regular season, the Falcons are seven points behind Mercyhurst for the final spot in the Atlantic Hockey playoffs. RIT was swept by Niagara last week on the road, with defeats of 4-3 and 4-1. The Tigers have clinched home-ice for the first round of the playoffs and received votes in this week's USCHO poll.
Follow the Games: Both games this weekend can be seen live on NESN+. Head to the following link to see how you can access the channel. https://nesn.com/watch/
FloHockey.TV will carry the games as usual.
Live stats can be found at https://bentleyfalcons.com/sports/mice/2022-23/schedule
Last Time Out: Bentley took four points last week from AIC, keyed by a 4-3 victory at the Mass Mutual Center last Wednesday.
AIC scored just 34 seconds into the game, but Bentley then reeled off three unanswered goals in the first period. Defenseman Tanner Main scored exactly two minutes later to tie the score. Then later in the period the Falcons scored twice in 94 seconds. Cole Kodsi had the first goal, followed by Luca Vanroboys on the power play.
AIC had the only goal of the 2nd period to cut the lead to 3-2. But 2:55 into the 3rd period, senior defenseman Hunter Toale scored what would be the game-winner to make the score 4-2. The goal was Toale's first game-winner of his career.
The teams then played to a 2-2 draw on Friday at Bentley Arena, with AIC winning the shootout. The Falcons scored twice on the power play, by Harrison Scott and Cole Kodsi. Matt Gosiewski had an assist on both goals.
Pitera Approaches 150 Games: Graduate student and team co-captain Dylan Pitera is two games away from hitting the 150 career games played milestone. Only three other players have played 150 games or more in the program's history. Kyle Schmidt '18 (153 games), Brendan Hamblet '22 (152 games) and Tanner Jago '19 (151 games).
Niemo Ranks 3rd in AHA Among Freshmen: Freshman Nicholas Niemo ranks 3rd in Atlantic Hockey in points among freshmen with 19. He's behind only Army's Max Itagaki (26 points) and Sacred Heart's Marcus Joughin (21).
Niemo leads the Falcons in both assists (13) and points (19). He was recently named Rookie of the Month for January by both Atlantic Hockey and the Hockey Commissioners Association.
Niemo was also named to the HCA's Tim Taylor Rookie of the Year Watch List on Feb. 9.
Hasley Ranks Highly: Connor Hasley's 2.92 goals against average ranks 7th nationally among freshmen. That's tops among freshmen netminders in the AHA. His .911 save percentage is 6th in the AHA overall and 4th nationally among freshmen.
This season he's been named the AHA Rookie of the Month for October, and the Goalie of the Week (Oct. 17) and Rookie of the Week (Nov. 14) once.
22 Deep: 22 different players have scored goals for Bentley this season, led by seven from Dylan Pitera and Harrison Scott.
25 different players have at least one point this season, with nine players in double digits so far.
Up Next: Bentley will close out the regular season next weekend at home against Army West Point. Game times are 7:05 pm on Friday the 24th and 4:05 pm on Saturday the 25th.