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Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Really great game tonight at the JAR, and not just because Bentley beat Army 2-1. Fine non-stop, two-way action all three periods, both teams about even in shots in each period, both goalies on top of their game (Komm's first collegiate win, which easily could have been a shut out, as he certainly must wish that he had cleared that bouncer), five 5-4 PPs for each team with some good scoring chances on both sides (Gensler had a couple of open nets right in front), no majors, and decent reffing overall. Seemed like a more determined Falcon team than the one I watched at Tsongas on Tuesday night. Humanoid - I forgot in my post above that Bentley beat Northeastern 2-1 earlier for our Hockey East upset this season (so, three years in row with upsets against Maine and UMass the past two seasons), so perhaps you are right that Bentley did not take the UML as seriously as they might have earlier in the season, although it just seemed to me that they were sloppy and took to many silly penalties on Tuesday night.

Decent crowd with fans from both teams oddly mixed together tonight, although Bentley fans still seem quite distracted by their side-bar conversations, texting, etc. And, of course, they all leave before the teams have shaken hands at the end, so I suppose a stick salute to the seats following a Falcons win would be strange now. I hope that Bentley can build on this win for a strong final run against their eastern AH opponents. Looking forward to game tomorrow night, which will be the rubber match, as Army beat Bentley at West Point in December.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Snively65 said:
Really great game tonight at the JAR, and not just because Bentley beat Army 2-1. Fine non-stop, two-way action all three periods, both teams about even in shots in each period, both goalies on top of their game (Komm's first collegiate win, which easily could have been a shut out, as he certainly must wish that he had cleared that bouncer), five 5-4 PPs for each team with some good scoring chances on both sides (Gensler had a couple of open nets right in front), no majors, and decent reffing overall. Seemed like a more determined Falcon team than the one I watched at Tsongas on Tuesday night. Humanoid - I forgot in my post above that Bentley beat Northeastern 2-1 earlier for our Hockey East upset this season (so, three years in row with upsets against Maine and UMass the past two seasons), so perhaps you are right that Bentley did not take the UML as seriously as they might have earlier in the season, although it just seemed to me that they were sloppy and took to many silly penalties on Tuesday night.

Decent crowd with fans from both teams oddly mixed together tonight, although Bentley fans still seem quite distracted by their side-bar conversations, texting, etc. And, of course, they all leave before the teams have shaken hands at the end, so I suppose a stick salute to the seats following a Falcons win would be strange now. I hope that Bentley can build on this win for a strong final run against their eastern AH opponents. Looking forward to game tomorrow night, which will be the rubber match, as Army beat Bentley at West Point in December.
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Agreed on all accounts. Tonight's game was fantastic. Brandom Komm finally showed why everyone was so high on him last year at Northfield Mt. Herman. The kid's got a lot of skill and made some fantastic shots. The defense also played strong and the Falcons won their 2nd consecutive AHA contest.

The first period was so disjointed that it didn't have much action and seemed like an exhibition skate. Then the 2nd period started with a bang when Cloutier went 2 lines cross the width to Peterson who one-timed a pass cross ice to Gensler, who nearly scored. It was a wild 2nd period, cleanly played, the only penalties called were those "We have to call this penalty" and the players were intense and fast. It was probably one of the more enjoyable games I've seen in a couple of years.

I think the way to describe it is when you watch a 2-1 baseball pitchers duel and the game ends in about an hour and half, and you tihnk "wow that's it. not much to talk about." but hot **** you enjoyed it.

Peterson now has 9 goals. Him and Gensler are closest to 10. Bentley needs a double-digit goal scorer pretty badly.

I know it was just one game, but after Saturdays' Mercyhurst game and now last night, there's the chance ot really get the wheels spinning and start a great run towards the end.

Hot rumor flying about is that the students may have a fan bus coming from campus. There might be a shuttle service from campus tothe JAR followed by a free skate after the game? Don't know if anyone else has heard about this, but that would be great because it might make for a sufficiently lubricated, loud crowd (just hopefully not unruly.. a la HOly Cross).

I believe the correct term for tonight was a relaxing night at the ole hockey rink.

As an aside - Brian Riley, the ARmy head coach, is the son of Jack Riley who coached the 1960 Squaw Valley gold medal team. If anyone ever gets the chance to say hi, he is a living legend and the stories he can tell are amazing. I've had the honor of speaking with him a couple of times, and he is breathing hockey history. Absolutely amazing.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Good stuff, Humanoid. We both forgot to mention that Army was coming into the JAR on a roll tonight, having gone unbeaten the past three in a row against the high and mighty western division of AH (3-2 win and 2-2 tie against Bobby Mo, the highest RPI AH team, and a 5-4 win Air Force the previous weekend).

With Holy Cross 4-2 win over UConn and AIC 6-4 win over Sacred Heart tonight, the second tier of the AH remains tightly packed.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Snively65 said:
Good stuff, Humanoid. We both forgot to mention that Army was coming into the JAR on a roll tonight, having gone unbeaten the past three in a row against the high and mighty western division of AH (3-2 win and 2-2 tie against Bobby Mo, the highest RPI AH team, and a 5-4 win Air Force the previous weekend).

With Holy Cross 4-2 win over UConn and AIC 6-4 win over Sacred Heart tonight, the second tier of the AH remains tightly packed.
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Very true - Holy Cross now has a one point lead over UConn, with Bentley and Army 2 points back (1 pt back of 2nd). AIC's win puts 4 points between a now tie for the bucket with the Jackets and Sacred Heart, and Army/Bentley.

A Bentley win could push them as high as 2nd but cannot drop them if they lose. They will be either 2 points behind HC with a win and a HC win, or 1 point behind UConn with a UCwin.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Another good game last night. No penalties and only Brett Hartung's goal about 8 minutes into the first (assist Aaron Stonacek). In contrast, the second period was loaded with penalties, including almost 4 min of continuous PP for Bentley, from a 5-min major and game misconduct against Army for hitting from behind, before getting their own 2-min Too Many Men on Ice. But, Bentley could not get that second goal, and Army answered about 6 min into the third to force OT. Both Bentley and Army went all out during the entire OT, registering 3 and 6 shots, respectively. Great goal tending again by both Komm and Leets. Fun weekend of hockey, with a much larger crowd on Saturday night than on Friday, again with the large majority being Army fans (Bentley only very rarely experiences the advantages of home ice fan support).
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

This was not a great weekend to be a Bentley hockey fan.

I'll try to do my best to summarize the weekend. I was at the Friday night game, which Bentley raced out to a 3-1 lead in. But then, for some reason, with the 2 goal lead, the team quit on the ice and expected to win the rest of the game. Unfortunately, Sacred Heart took the fight to Bentley, got them on the ropes and took a 4-3 lead.

Then Bentley played flat for most of the 3rd period. By the end of the game, they didn't want to be on the ice, had completely quit, and I saw two of the biggest bonehead plays I've ever seen in 20 years of watching hockey.

Micah Williams made 3 bad moves near his net which resulted in an eventual turnover and Sacred Heart goal. Later, Mike Switzer got a game misconduct for running a Pioneer into the boards. With the blatant intent to run the man, he easily could've received a game DQ.

I read the recap this morning and saw some quotes from Coach Soderquist that were very telling - he used terms like "embarassment," "disgrace," and "approach to the game wasn't good." That's rough to see in print. I don't know if a) it should've been printed or b) it wasn't used as a motivational tool and that he may have said things a helluva lot worse.

Fact is - the team flat out quit on Friday and it was BAD.

They came out equally as flat today, and Sacred Heart raced out to a 2-period, 4-1 lead. Luckily, Bentley woke up into the third and made a mad dash comeback against a 4-win, last place team to win in OT, thanks to Switzer's game tying goal with a minute to go. It salvaged the weekend and keeps Bentley in the hunt for the 2nd place, 2nd bye in the East. It helps that Army and UConn split, so we keep a 3way tie heading into next weekend against AIC.

But there are a couple of concerns out of this weekend. Number one - the team's hunger. Soderquist's comments are bad comments to read. He mentioned players being more concerned with points and shifts. That's troubling to read. Maybe it's a one-game aberration, but if they can't get hungry for next weekend, AIC is going to eat them alive. Probably the most talented bad team I've seen since Brown's squad last year beat Yale.

Number two - the amount of freshmen on the roster. This is a team that easily could have 12-14 wins right now with all the freshmen. If they played the way they "should" play, then they'd be in position to have a 17 win team. The potential is there for the team to be a 20-win team in the near future and even challenge RIT for league supremacy. But if they follow this trend, then next year they'll have 12-14 wins and should have 17. As opposed to having 8 wins and should have 14.

Number three - Unless something changes, this powerplay unit will go down in the history of Division I hockey as the worst powerplay unit ever.

Number four - we shouldn't be saying "room for improvement' in February. This tema needs to turn it on the last couple of weeks. They've been aided by the Uconn-Army split, and maybe I'm being harsh as a poster, but I see a helluva lot more in this team, and there's no reason they can't make a run to get that first round bye.

I'm looking forward to AIC. But that Bentley didn't come away with more than 2 points and sole possession of 2nd place in the east hurts, since they should've, could've, but didn't.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

They have been playing well and with all the freshman, those kids have to learn to play 60 minutes every game. It's way too hard to take more than 2 points per weekend in the Atlantic League. You may be surprised what this type of comeback can do for a team's confidence...let's hope it is a springboard.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Had an opportunity to see my alma mater UNH from great seats at Lake Whitt on Friday night, and could not deal with the weather forecast for the drive home from Bridgeport on Saturday. So, thanks for filling in some details to the box scores, Humanoid. In fact, your description pretty much sums up the box score for Friday night's game, which makes Soderquist's comments after the game seem appropriate.

Huge that the Falcons came back to win in OT on Saturday afternoon, our first OT win since....



....4-3 against RPI on October 18th, 2008. So, hope you are right about the springboard, Ref Hater.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Another win for the Falcons last night....maybe the momentum continues. We will see tonight if they can get a much needed sweep to keep things going. No matter what their record is...AIC plays hard every night and it is never easy to sweep in this league.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Greetings from Tierra del Fuego, where I am only able to follow the box scores. Sadly, splitting series the rest of the way is not going to get Bentley a bye in the first round, although I am not sure that would be the for the best anyway. Go Falcons!
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Ok, this thead appears to have gone in the same direction as Bentley's season. But, the Falcons have a chance to extend their season with a win against Sacred Heart at the JAR this Saturday night. Go Falcons!

"Bluto: Hey! What's all this laying around stuff? Why are you all still laying around here for?
Stork: What the hell are we supposed to do, ya moron? We're all expelled. There's nothing to fight for anymore.
D-Day: [to Bluto] Let it go. War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: [to Boon] Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...
[thinks hard of something to say]
Bluto: The tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!"
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Snively65 said:
Ok, this thead appears to have gone in the same direction as Bentley's season. But, the Falcons have a chance to extend their season with a win against Sacred Heart at the JAR this Saturday night. Go Falcons!

"Bluto: Hey! What's all this laying around stuff? Why are you all still laying around here for?
Stork: What the hell are we supposed to do, ya moron? We're all expelled. There's nothing to fight for anymore.
D-Day: [to Bluto] Let it go. War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: [to Boon] Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...
[thinks hard of something to say]
Bluto: The tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!"
Click to expand...

I just got lazy. Very lazy. There has been some good Bentley hockey coverage on a couple of local websites so I will be checking for them as we get closer to Saturday.

The same guy - Dan Rubin - who has been covering the team for USCHO gave a couple of AHA, ECAC, and Hockey East articles for www.noontimesports.com - there's a preview up of the AHA with Bentley still to come.

Rory Duyon has a story from last weekend's home game against Holy Cross up on uscho.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Humanoid said:
Here's a preview of the Bentley-Sacred Heart game from www.noontimesports.com

http://noontimesports.com/2011/03/02/rubin-can-the-falcons-fly-this-post-season/
Click to expand...

I am not sure why racking up penalty minutes is a good thing, although the Falcons are third in the AH with an 85% kill rate on the season.

From Dan Rubin's article: "Bentley’s defensemen do a wonderful job of playing instigator roles. Mike Switzer amassed 34 PIM on his own on December 3 against Robert Morris. He has 114 on the season, along with 3-7-10 totals. Ryan Kayfes had 30 PIM during that same RMU game, amassing 80-plus this season."

I think with the exception of two bad games, goal tending has not been the problem for the Falcons this year. Rather, I believe that it has been Bentley's inability to score goals and protect a lead that placed them where they are. That said, I think that Bentley should prevail this Saturday night, and perhaps Rubin's prediction for a Bentley 5-3 win is about right.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Snively65 said:
I am not sure why racking up penalty minutes is a good thing, although the Falcons are third in the AH with an 85% kill rate on the season.

From Dan Rubin's article: "Bentley’s defensemen do a wonderful job of playing instigator roles. Mike Switzer amassed 34 PIM on his own on December 3 against Robert Morris. He has 114 on the season, along with 3-7-10 totals. Ryan Kayfes had 30 PIM during that same RMU game, amassing 80-plus this season."

I think with the exception of two bad games, goal tending has not been the problem for the Falcons this year. Rather, I believe that it has been Bentley's inability to score goals and protect a lead that placed them where they are. That said, I think that Bentley should prevail this Saturday night, and perhaps Rubin's prediction for a Bentley 5-3 win is about right.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what happened last night, but I hope that collapse doesn't resonate into the coming years. That was flat out bad, and now the Achilles' heel of lack of desire and poor PP came back and cost the Falcons their season.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

Humanoid said:
I'm not sure what happened last night, but I hope that collapse doesn't resonate into the coming years. That was flat out bad, and now the Achilles' heel of lack of desire and poor PP came back and cost the Falcons their season.
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I ended up in Durham instead of Watertown on Saturday night, but from the box score, looks like a tough third period for the Breton-Stonacek-Hartung second line, Trent Bonnett on D, and Joe Calvi in net. All will be back next season to redeem themselves, except for Calvi, whom I am sorry saw his Bentley career end on such a sour note. Agreed, the Bentley PP was not a strength this season.

Best wishes to seniors Joe Calvi, Dustin Cloutier, Erik Peterson, and Brandon Graffunder in their post-Bentley careers.
 
Re: Bentley Falcons 2010-2011: Reclaim The Pride

This past season, the Bentley Falcons lost back-to-back 3-2 heart-breakers against the Air Force Falcons on New Years Eve Eve and New Years Eve at the John A Ryan rink in Watertown.

This coming season, the Bentley Falcons are scheduled against Yale on New Years Day in New Haven, and against UMass on October 14th in Amherst.

I like how this schedule is shaping up for the Falcons!
 
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