Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

[Snively65]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

For our purposes,

Bentley needs 4 points to seal up a first round bye.

Mercyhurst has home and homes with Niagara and Bobby Mo their last two weekends. Air Force entertains a struggling RIT team in the Springs this weekend, and visits Niagara for two their last weekend. UConn plays home and homes with Army and Sacred Heart their last two weekends. If Mercyhurst picks up only five points, the Falcons could overtake them.

[Humanoid]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

Mercyhurst has home and homes with Niagara and Bobby Mo their last two weekends. Air Force entertains a struggling RIT team in the Springs this weekend, and visits Niagara for two their last weekend. UConn plays home and homes with Army and Sacred Heart their last two weekends. If Mercyhurst picks up only five points, the Falcons could overtake them.

That'll boil down to the last weekend. Niagara is missing pieces that mean they'll lose to Mercyhurst.

[schiegs]

The biggest difference I've noticed this year is that they are winning (nearly) all the games they are supposed to win, and doing well against teams where losses are acceptable. In previous years, there seemed to be little correlation between where their opponent stood in the standings, and the final score. Beat Air Force, lose to AIC. With a few exceptions, they are winning the winnable games.

I hearby withdraw this observation.

[Snively65]

I hearby withdraw this observation.

Huge missed opportunity for Falcons to gain a point on the Lakers.

[beenthere77]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

Huge missed opportunity for Falcons to gain a point on the Lakers.

Very Huge and at this point can't discount as an anomaly(ie the battle cry of the past AIC game). Eyes open. Only good thing is it happened before playoffs so Soderquist gets a preview of what can happen. One goal lead with just minutes remaining is shut down time, different agendas' = bad outcome.

Komm was literally run over on a goal and not a player on the ice did a thing about it, giving Sacred Heart no cause for pause about repeating it again tonight! Blue collar...

[beenthere77]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

Win by Bentley tonight and a loss by either Robert Morris or UConn gets Bentley the bye. Not thinking UConn will lose to Army a second time and RMU had a big win last night.

[Snively65]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

When was the last time that Bentley got swept by Sacred Heart in the regular season? A bye and home ice could go down the drain. Gotta relearn how to score goals 5 on 5.

[schiegs]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

At least this year's squad had the decency to wait until February to utterly collapse.

[wwjg1158]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

Seriously guys....do you really think this was the collapse you all have been waiting for? Look Komm didn't have his best weekend why else did the coach pull him? The team is depleted and certainly don't have all of their players, in fact they were short a player. So just chill they need one win or 2 points to get the first round bye. .........Let's hope some people rejoin the team next week and they can pick up at least one win. It is senior night next Friday so maybe they will play with some energy. I hope you can dial it back just a bit as a collapse well I think not!

[Snively65]

Seriously guys....do you really think this was the collapse you all have been waiting for? Look Komm didn't have his best weekend why else did the coach pull him? The team is depleted and certainly don't have all of their players, in fact they were short a player. So just chill they need one win or 2 points to get the first round bye. .........Let's hope some people rejoin the team next week and they can pick up at least one win. It is senior night next Friday so maybe they will play with some energy. I hope you can dial it back just a bit as a collapse well I think not!

Hey, wwjg, you are right, of course. In fact, all the Falcons need is 1 point next weekend to keep their bye and home ice, as they hold the tie breaker over UConn should the Huskies sweep next weekend. More important to get healthy over the next two weeks.

[beenthere77]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

Hey, wwjg, you are right, of course. In fact, all the Falcons need is 1 point next weekend to keep their bye and home ice, as they hold the tie breaker over UConn should the Huskies sweep next weekend. More important to get healthy over the next two weeks.

Are you sure about that?
Looks like UConn,AF and RMU could go ahead into 2,3 and 4th if Bentley were to take only one point, 3 points for UConn and Af and 4 for RMU would put Bentley in 5th. May be unlikely but not impossible. Bentley would need at least 2 to keep RM out of top 4.

[beenthere77]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

When was the last time that Bentley got swept by Sacred Heart in the regular season? A bye and home ice could go down the drain. Gotta relearn how to score goals 5 on 5.

SH's 4th goal in the third making it a 4-2 game shut the door on Bentley tonight. Puck got thrown up the middle resulting in a slap shot from the point. Nobody got out to block it. The series was really lost on Friday's night tying goal with only 2 mins left. Have to be able to shut it down in that situation, win faceoffs, hold up your man, keep it simple defense, puck out of the zone.

Too bad Bentley doesn't have video highlights of all the goals for and against and other game highlights posted like some of the programs do. Amazing what you can see on replays.

[Snively65]

Are you sure about that?
Looks like UConn,AF and RMU could go ahead into 2,3 and 4th if Bentley were to take only one point, 3 points for UConn and Af and 4 for RMU would put Bentley in 5th. May be unlikely but not impossible. Bentley would need at least 2 to keep RM out of top 4.

Oops, I was missing a game that had not been added to the standings when I posted last night.

Komm has second most minutes in div 1 this season; need first round bye to get him rested.

[wwjg1158]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

Yes I agree he was used way too much! Either coach doesn't trust his backup goalies or they are terrible! In the end some time off is necessary for komm.

[eXcSports]

Re: Bentley Falcons 2013-2014: No offseason. No excuses.

It's an unfair assessment of this team to call for a collapse at this point. They are battered and broken; they played last night with 5 defensemen and 12 forwards and that was essentially it.

It's also unfair to say that Komm has been ridden too far without the trust of the backup goalies. You have a senior goalie like Branden Komm, you ride that card as long as humanly possible until it reaches the end. To be honest, I expected Komm to sit out next Saturday against AIC at the very end for a rest because he will have started every single game. If Bentley has sealed up a bye (they only need 2 points), he likely won't play in Springfield. As a goalie playing that many minutes, he's far and above the best goalie in the league. Regardless of trust issues or whatever you speculate, playing someone else is putting the team at a worse position than when he's in there. Not a knock against Doc or Antoni; Komm is just that good. So you play him every night until the ride ends. It ended Saturday.

Sacred Heart is not a bad team. Last year, they'd get a 3-1 or 4-1 lead on a team, give up a goal, and they would go to hell. In 2013-2014, they still take those goals and go from 3-0 to 3-2, but they have a new atittude to shut the door. Bear in mind that the 4th goal was on the back end of dueling too many men penalties. Also, Bentley missed open nets. I finally have a good case study to review this week, and I'll have more details on it this week that while a loss and sweep, this isn't a knock against Bentley.

This is a preseason 10th place team that is still in 3rd, 2nd all season. Bentley last year was overrated as a 4th place team. Bentley this year was underrated as a 9th place team. Ultimately, I remind people that you're never as good as when you kill teams, and you're never as bad as when you get swept. The glass is still 75-80 percent full as opposed to 25-20 percent empty.