WALTHAM, Mass. – Bentley gets the 2023-24 season underway at home on Saturday night against preseason No. 1 Boston University. Puck drop is set for 7:05 PM at Bentley Arena.

Setting the stage

Saturday's game will be the first behind the bench for new Falcons head coach Andy Jones, whose hiring was announced on June 28. Jones was previously the associate head coach at UMass Lowell for five seasons.

The Terriers, coached by former NHL veteran and BU alum Jay Pandolfo, were voted first in both the USCHO and USA Hockey preseason polls.

Looking at the Falcons

The Falcons' roster features 30 student-athletes, 18 returnees and 12 newcomers. Defenseman Nick Bochen is the leading returning scorer after he had 20 points (5g, 15a) last season. Sophomore Stephen Castagna is the leading returning goal scorer.

In goal, senior Nick Grabko and sophomore Connor Hasley split time last season. Hasley started 18 games and Grabko 16. Grabko has started 41 games in his career. Hasley earned several Atlantic Hockey awards last season, including Rookie of the Month for October.

New Faces

Of the 12 newcomers to the roster four are transfers and eight are freshmen. Among the transfers, graduate student Jonathan Bendorf, from Mercyhurst, has played in the most games at 115. Nik Armstrong-Kingkade played with coach Jones at UMass Lowell. Defensemen Sam Duerr played at Maine and forward A.J. Hodges played at Michigan State.

Of the eight freshmen, seven were either a captain or assistant captain of their junior team last season.

Series History

Saturday's game will be the fourth all-time meeting between Bentley and Boston Univ.

The Terriers lead the series 2-1, with Bentley's win coming during the 2013-14 season by a 4-1 score at Agganis Arena. That was the first ever game between the two programs.

BU has won the last two, in the 2015-16 season and last year.

Bentley vs. Hockey East

Bentley has 14 wins in its history over Hockey East schools. In addition to the win over BU in 2013-14, they have beaten Northeastern (5), Boston College (2), Maine (2), UNH (2), UMass (1) and UMass Lowell (1).

After Saturday, the Falcons visit Northeastern on Oct. 14 for another Hockey East matchup. They also visit UMass Lowell (Nov. 24), Merrimack (Nov. 25) and Maine (Dec. 9).