Bentley Travels to Niagara for Weekend Matchup
The Matchup: Bentley plays on the road this weekend for the first time since early December when they travel up to Western New York to take on the Niagara Purple Eagles at Dwyer Arena. Friday's game was moved up by two hours and begins at 5:00 PM and Saturday's game is a 5:30 PM start.
The Falcons dropped a pair of games last weekend at home to RIT. Niagara split a home and home series with St. Lawrence in non-conference action with a 4-3 win at home and 4-3 defeat on the road. The Purple Eagles are 5-5-2 in Atlantic Hockey action.
This is the second series of the season between these two teams. They played at Bentley Arena on Nov. 4 and 5 and Niagara emerged with six points.
Follow the Games: Both games this weekend can be seen on FloHockey.TV. A subscription is required.
Live stats can be found at https://bentleyfalcons.com/sports/mice/2022-23/schedule
Series History: Niagara leads the all-time series 15-8-3. They met in the playoffs for the first time ever last season in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament and Bentley swept the series two games to zero.
The Falcons won the first game 3-2 in overtime on a goal by Collin Rutherford 9:47 into OT. Bentley then finished the sweep in game two with a 4-1 victory behind two goals from Cole Kodsi in the 3rd period.
Penalty Kill Succeeding: Bentley's penalty kill has gone 19-20 (95 percent) over the last four games. They went 5-5 against AIC on Dec. 2 and 4-4 in the win over Northeastern on Dec. 30. In last weekend's series against RIT they went a combined 10-11.
In each game against RIT, Bentley killed off a 5-on-3 power play that lasted for a minute-plus.
Where They Rank: Cole Kodsi ranks 2nd in Atlantic Hockey in scoring chances created with 25.
Sophomore Harrison Scott is second in the AHA in faceoff winning percentage at .578. He is 159-275 so far.
Scott leads the team with six goals, which is tied for 12th in Atlantic Hockey.
Defenseman Nick Bochen leads the team in both assists, with eight, and points, with 12.
Freshman Pat Lawn leads the team with 24 blocked shots, in just 15 games.
Up Next: Bentley is back at home next weekend to take on Canisius. The series opener on Friday, Jan. 20 is at 7:05 and the final on the 21st is a 4:05 PM start.