The Bentley College hockey team is young,
exciting and turning coach Ryan
Soderquist prematurely gray.
The Falcons have dug themselves three-goal
deficits in each of their last three games and still managed
to post two wins and a draw. On Oct. 21, Air Force squandered
a 5-2 lead and lost, 6-5. Last weekend, Princeton jumped
out to 3-0 leads only to have Bentley pull into a 3-3 tie
on Friday and post a 4-3 win on Saturday – the latter
was Bentley's first victory over an ECAC Hockey League opponent.
Atlantic
Hockey Notebook
Jeff
Gumaer scored twice in Bentley's 3-3 tie with Princeton
Friday.
"We're a young team and seem to be playing
up and down,'' Soderquist said, "but to see us hold
our composure and be able to come back was exciting.''
Jeff Gumaer notched a power-play goal to start
the Friday comeback and netted the tying tally with 4:40
left. Tom Dickhudt, Marc Menzione and Anthony Canzoneri
scored on the power play on Saturday and Dickhudt's second
tally was the game-winner with 6:35 remaining. Netminder
Ray Jean made four of his 42 stops in overtime in the tie
and made 34 saves in the win.
Bentley is doing all of this with a very young
squad: the Falcon roster has
nine freshmen, eight sophomores, and six juniors. The team
has just three players with more than 50 games of collegiate
experience.
"We're a little young,'' Soderquist said.
"We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores who are still
learning to play 60 minutes, shift by shift. That's
why we're still seeing ups and downs.''
What impressed Soderquist the most was the
level-headed approach his team took in climbing back into
the contests.
"We came into the locker room between
periods and the guys are not yelling and screaming,'' he
said. "They said, 'We'll bounce back. We'll have our
opportunities to put a couple in the net.' They stayed calm,
stuck to the game plan and they did well.''
Soderquist remembers his days as a player
when Bentley teams were merely
happy for stepping into the building of an ECACHL team.
"I can see a completley different makeup
of our guys now,'' he said. "They are not just happy
playing those guys; they want to win.''
SEEN AND HEARD IN ATLANTIC HOCKEY
A helping hand: Bentley was
able to secure one of the two games with Princeton as a
"home" contest and use it as a fundraiser for
the Cheer Me Up Foundation in New Jersey. The organization
provides gifts to sick children in hospitals and to underprivileged
kids during the holiday season, and donates money for things
such as heating for houses.
Nearly 150 people attended a VIP dinner, where
former New Jersey Devil Ken Daneyko served as a guest speaker
and signed autographs.
"It was a great event,'' said Bentley
coach Ryan Soderquist, who thanked Princeton for giving
up one of its home games to play the game at Codey Arena
in West Orange.
The arena – which featured a huge videoscreen
providing live coverage and instant replays – sold
out a VIP section to ten $1,000 sponsors, and a crowd of
900 attended the non-league contest.
FRIES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BAG
Great Weekend Getaway
Mercyhurst
at Sacred Heart
(Fri.-Sat.)
It's a matchup of the top two teams from the preseason
rankings. A loss to Canisius and tie with Army has
slowed Sacred Heart out of the gate, but the Pioneers
will be happy to play their first home game at the
Milford Ice Pavilion. Mercyhurst managed a road split
with Holy Cross but is probably a bit upset with its
overtime loss to UConn. Some of the best playmakers
the league has ever seen will be on display -- Pierre-Luc
O'Brien of Sacred Heart is trying to shake an early
slump while hot-scoring Ben Cottreau (eight goals
this season) and Scott Champagne (119 career points)
lead the Laker charge.
Stick
Salute
Bentley, with
a helping hand from Princeton, helped raise
more than $10,000 for a charity that helps
sick and underprivileged children. It's nice to see
schools and our college youth lending a helping hand.
Bench
Minor
Twelve non-conference games over the weekend and not a
single one was held in an Atlantic Hockey home rink.
It's a shame that Atlantic Hockey fans cannot watch
some of the top teams in the nation in their own home
facilities, humble though they may be.
• Mine, mine, mine: Mercyhurst sophomore
goalie Tyler Small has played every minute of all six games
thus far.
• Centurions: Ben Cottreau of Mercyhurst
needs four points to reach 100 for his career – the
junior has posted his first career hat tricks on back-to-back
weekends. He will join teammate Scott Champagne (119), Sacred
Heart’s Pierre-Luc O’Brien (114) and Holy Cross
captain James Sixsmith (113)
as the only active 100-point scorers in the league.
• Notable: Army doesn’t have a
single player with more than 40 career points in NCAA games.
… Trevor Stewart and Brian Burns need just two games
to reach 100 for their careers at Connecticut. They will
join Matt Scherer, William Crum, Eric St. Arnauld
and Cole Koidahl in the century club.
• Youth shall be served: The four leading
scorers for Canisius are all freshmen: Josh Heidinger (2-6—8),
Carl Hudson (3-2—5), Jason Weeks (2-3—5) and
Chris Forsman (1-3—4).
• Relieved Huskies: Connecticut’s
0-5 start, fresh off a 6-2 loss at Mercyhurst on Friday,
was the worst for the program in 45 years. The Huskies avoided
their worst start ever with a 5-4 win on Saturday as Chris
Myhro
scored 68 seconds into overtime. Sophomore Jon Anderson
made 22 saves in 22 minutes of relief action on Friday and
earned his first win of the season with 27 stops on Saturday.
• Hope they at least managed a tan:
The end of the unbeaten road arrived for Army, which bowed
to Notre Dame 3-0 in the first round of the Lightning College
Hockey Classic in Tampa, Fla., and then dropped a 2-1 decision
to Alabama-Huntsville in the consolation contest. Against
Notre Dame, the Black Knights managed just one shot on goal
in the first period and seven overall.
Army’s power play, which was ranked
10th nationally heading into the weekend, was blanked on
11 man-up chances over both games. Goalie Josh Kassel did
manage to stop Notre Dame’s Kevin Deeth on a penalty
shot.
• No luck of the Irish: Notre Dame completed
a sweep of Atlantic Hockey foes with a 2-0 championship
game win over Air Force in the Lightning Classic. The Falcons’
high-scoring line of Andrew Ramsey, Eric Ehn and Mike Phillipich
was blanked on 14 shots. One night earlier, Ehn had six
of the line’s 12 points in a 7-5 victory over Alabama-Huntsville.
Ehn still leads the nation with 10 goals and 18 points.
• Finally, a home game: Bentley and
AIC have each played their first five games on the road.
Home debuts arrive Friday, Bentley hosting Connecticut and
AIC hosting Army. Sacred Heart hosts Mercyhurst in its first
NCAA game on Friday – the Pioneers did host Ottawa
in an Oct. 6 exhibition.
• Five (for) fighting: Canisius and
RIT shared in a little dance late in the third period of
their matchup on Friday night. Both teams were assessed
six minor penalties (all roughing calls except for one hitting
after whistle call).
• Perfect in relief: Jocelyn Guimond
played the third period in RIT’s 5-3 loss at Cornell,
stopping all 15 shots thrown his way. Louis Menard gave
up five goals on 20 shots through two periods.
• Lost its fizz: Canisius played the
first of four contests scheduled for the Pepsi Amherst Center
against RIT before a paltry crowd of 427. The Golden Griffins
will also utilize their “second home” on Nov.
17 against Mercyhurst, on Jan. 6 against Army, and Feb.
3 against RIT. Canisius last played in Amherst in Feb. 2001.
• U.P. woes: American International
headed into CCHA territory and came away with 5-0 and 4-1
losses at Lake Superior State. AIC was locked in a 1-1 tie
midway through Saturday’s game only to surrender three
goals within 11 minutes. The Yellow Jackets received its
lone goal from Jereme Tendler, and were 0-for-8 on the power
play. Coby Robinson stopped 64 of 73 shots.
• All good things must come to an end:
Holy Cross’ three-game win streak against ECAC Hockey
Leage foes came to an end as Yale prevailed, 2-1, in the
collegiate debut of new head coach Keith Allain. The Crusaders
fall to 18-40 against ECACHL competition.
• Where are they now: Holy Cross –
Patrick Rissmiller has a goal in 10 games for the San Jose
Sharks; Tony Quesada is playing for the Houston Aeros of
the AHL; Ben Conway is playing for Memphis RiverKings of
the CHL; Marc Bianchi is playing for the Lubbock Cotton
Kings of the CHL.
• Pioneering breakthrough: Sacred Heart
scored twice in the final 8:05 to post a 2-1 win over Wayne
State. It was the Pioneers’ first win over a College
Hockey America team (1-9-4 record). Sacred Heart fell behind
5-0 to Michigan State before settling for a 7-5 loss. The
Spartans scored three power play goals. SHU falls to 1-6
against CCHA teams.
A variety of sources were utilized in
the compilation of this report
