Bentley Hosts Army West Point on Friday and Saturday
The Matchup: Bentley hosts Army West Point this weekend on Friday and Saturday at Bentley Arena to close out the season. This will be the second series of the season between the Falcons and Black Knights after they played in West Point in mid-November. Friday's game gets underway at 7:05 PM and Saturday's game is at 4:05 PM.
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
Tickets for both games this weekend can be purchased at https://www.etix.com/ticket/v/12892?cobrand=BentleyHockey
Last Time Out: Bentley split its series at RIT last weekend. After the Tigers won the first game 4-0, the Falcons responded with a 2-1 victory on Saturday. Despite the win, Mercyhurst's win over Army that night meant that the Falcons would not have enough points to qualify for the eight team Atlantic Hockey playoffs.
In Saturday's win over RIT, the goals came from Cole Kodsi and Stephen Castagna. Kodsi scored at 14:09 of the 2nd period to give Bentley a 1-0 lead off a pass from Castagna from behind the net. Castagna then scored himself at 9:10 of the 3rd period to make the score 2-0 after he tipped-in a shot by Lucas Vanroboys.
Falcons goalie Connor Hasley made 30 saves to earn the win, and he helped the penalty kill go 6-6 on the night.
Pitera Hits 150 Games: Graduate student and team co-captain Dylan Pitera played in his 150th career game on Saturday at RIT. 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).
Hasley Ranks Highly: Connor Hasley's .914 save percentage ranks 5th nationally among freshmen goalies. His 2.81 goals against average ranks 7th nationally among freshmen netminders. Those are the best numbers for a freshman goalie in Atlantic Hockey and he has played the most minutes among freshmen goalies in Atlantic Hockey (981). Only five other freshmen in Division I have played more minutes than him this season.
Since the turn of the calendar, Hasley has a .927 save percentage and a 2.40 GAA in nine starts.
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.
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 (31 points) and Sacred Heart's Marcus Joughin (22).
Niemo leads the Falcons in both assists (13) and points (19). He was 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.
22 Deep: 22 different players have scored goals for Bentley this season, led by seven from four different players; Dylan Pitera, Harrison Scott, Cole Kodsi and Stephen Castagna.
25 different players have at least one point this season, with nine players in double digits so far.
Series History: This weekend will be the 82nd and 83rd games all-time between Bentley and Army West Point, with the Black Knights holding a slight edge at 34-32-15.
The very first game between the two programs came in the 1981-82 season.
After Saturday's game, Army will overtake Sacred Heart as the team Bentley has played the most games against.