Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride
Looks like there's an in-rink reporter for post-game writeups now... Here's the summary from last night's game
http://www.uscho.com/recaps/2010/11/19/bentley-tops-connecticut-on-historic-evening/
I would rate Dan Rubin's article as only ok for capturing the flow of the game. But, nice recognition of Coach Ryan Soderquist, who is a class act.
Friday night was my first Bentley hockey game of the season, as my plans to follow the team to Milford and Troy at the beginning of the season fell apart and I was in Colorado for the Sacred Heart game at the JAR on November 3rd.
So, first a few comments on the so-called improvements in the infrastructure at the JAR. First, I am surprised that the NCAA allows covering up seven entire sheets of glass in the corner near Bentley's locker room, as not even small signs are allowed in any other NCAA rink, as far as I know. The new press box takes up a lot of space, but its location is fine, as they were using that space with a couple of tables before anyway. The newly revamped speaker system is loud for music between periods, but still inaudible in the Bentley section for announcements, such as noting goals and penalties during the game. Or, maybe it is the announcer, like the old Saturday Night Live skit where the audibility is no better right in the speaker booth than outside?
When I arrived about 5 minutes before the opening face off, in time for the inaudible starting player announcements and the old scratchy 45 rpm recording of the Star Spangled Banner, there were only four of us fans in the Bentley section, and a dozen or so UConn fans, including the players who were not dressed for the game. Surprising to me, within the first five minutes of the game, about 150 fans arrived in the Bentley section. But, as usual, most of these fans were paying no attention whatsoever to the game, and few were even aware when Bentley scored their three goals. Yeah, I know, our students are exceptional multi-taskers, as they will tell you over and over. About half of these fans left during the third period, when the game was still very much undecided. If any trustees were in attendance to consider the prospects of fan support for an on-campus rink, I think that we are dead.
Now for the game. Lines (LW-C-RW) and D units (LD-RD) were:
1. Peterson-Cloutier-Gensler
2. Breton-Rickford-Hartung
3. Nudy-Campanelli-Koudys
4. Robert-Stonacek-Trottier
D1. Bonnett-Marginsky
D2. Ledford-Kent
D3. Kayfes-Swtizer
G. Calvi
I was really impressed with frosh Gensler on the first line, who with his two goals on Friday night gives him five on the season (Peterson picked up the third goal, also giving him five on the season). No question that the first line will be expected to do a large part of the scoring this season, so hope that all three of them can stay off the DL. However, Soderquist rolled all four lines about equally on Friday night, with two frosh on the second line, and the fastest skater on the ice in Jamie Nudy on the third line. All four lines created many scoring opportunities, although many of these were not reflected with shots on net. Bentley blew a minute and a half 5-3 PP opportunity near the end of the second period; despite Soderquist calling a time out about 30 seconds into the effort, it did not generate more than a few shots from the point that never reached Bartus in net. I must think that if penalty-prone Bobby Preece from last year had been on the point, one of his shots would have gone in.
Defense is Bentley's strength this season, and two of the six are frosh, and another, Herbie Kent, was a forward his first two seasons. Bentley's D-men for the most part kept the UConn offense away from the net, and did not screen Calvi much on shots from the point. Calvi has started six of Bentley's first nine games, and based on his play on Friday night, I think that he deserves to remain in net against Holy Cross on Saturday night.
The first UConn goal was scored on a delayed penalty with 33 seconds left in the first period (Bartus skated to the bench and UConn used six attackers to score the goal a few seconds after the penalty was whistled). What I do not understand is why the goal stood AND the Bentley skater still served the 2-min penalty in the box, which extended a minute and a half into the second period. Perhaps there were two separate penalties called against Bentley, but it does not appear that way in the box score.
I thought that all three penalties called against Bentley in the third were questionable at best, when Bentley was otherwise dominating play. UConn definitely had the size advantage, averaging about 4-5 inches taller and 20-25 pounds heavier than Bentley skaters, except for Bentley's Zach Marginsky who stands at 6'6", but Bentley made up for size with speed, and outhustled UConn to lose pucks the entire game.
The fight between Switzer and Scott at the final buzzer was definitely instigated by Scott, and I was pleased to read that he is facing a one-game suspension and that Swtizer apparently will be able to play tonight. I am thinking that the home-and-home between Bentley and UConn in mid-February might not be far enough into the future for these two teams to forget about the way the game ended last night.
