Connecticut exploded for four third-period goals to lift the Huskies past Bentley, 7-4, Sunday afternoon at the UConn Ice Arena.
The win propelled UConn (11-10-5, 12-15-7) into sixth place, one point ahead of Iona in the league standings. The Huskies will face the No. 3 seed Holy Cross in the quarterfinal round of the MAAC Tournament, which begins next weekend. Bentley (4-26-2, 4-20-2) concludes its season in 11th place in the league, out of the playoffs.
Bentley came out strong, scoring two goals in the first 2:30. Tim Calabro scored the first goal 11 seconds in, from in front of the goal crease on a pass from Marcus Willy off the faceoff. The second goal came at the 2:30 mark on a shot from Joe Lovell. Despite the two-goal lead by Bentley, UConn outshot the Falcons, 11-5.
UConn’s Kurt Kamienski was fed a pass from Matt Herhal in the Connecticut defensive zone to put the Huskies on the board. Kamienski took the puck up the ice to score a shorthanded goal at the 9:29 mark of the middle period.
Three minutes later , Matt Grew tied the score on a shot from the center of the goal crease. The power-play goal was assisted by Mike Boylan.
Lovell came out in the third period and gave the Falcons their last lead of the game at the 1:38 mark. Connecticut then went on to score four unanswered in a span of 1:26.
Grew scored his second of the day starting the scoring barrage at the 3:56 mark. Beau McLaughin and Jon Ames assisted on the goal. Kamienski, scoring his second goal, followed up 18 seconds later on an assist from Grew. At the 4:50 mark, Ron D’Angelo raised the score to 5-2, and Adam Rhein capped off the scoring 32-seconds later during a power play.
Charles Ridolf scored the Huskies’ seventh goal of the day with a 1:35 left in the last stanza. Bentley scored its last tally of the day with just under 30 seconds remaining on a shot from Steve Tobio.
Artie Imbriano had 31 saves, while Bentley’s Bill Bridge stopped 35 shots.
