WATERTOWN, Mass. – There’s an old adage in sports. A team is never as good as when it wins, but it’s also never as bad as when it loses.
The month of January was not kind to the Bentley Falcons. Battling through injuries, a depleted roster did what it could in earning three ties against Northeastern, Army West Point and Robert Morris. But the Falcons still entered the month’s last day, facing first place Canisius without a win in the calendar month and coming off of a 3-2 loss on Friday night. They had been playing well, but they just hadn’t put up a “W” as tangible proof of that play.
That changed on Saturday night. Three different goal scorers lit the lamp as Bentley roared to a 3-0, second period lead against the Golden Griffins, ultimately holding on for a 3-2 victory at John A. Ryan Arena on Saturday evening.
“I think (the win) does a lot for the locker room,” Bentley head coach Ryan Soderquist said. “We’ve been playing good hockey for the last couple of weeks with nothing to show. Guys have stayed extremely committed and came in extremely focused (on Saturday). They stuck together, put some trust in each other and got the win.”
After falling behind in the game’s first 90 seconds on Friday, Bentley struck first against the Griffs on Saturday. Senior forward Matt Sieckhaus unleashed a slap shot past Canisius goalie Daniel Urbani, tucking it under the crossbar at the 7:11 mark to give Bentley a 1-0 lead. The goal was Sieckhaus’ second of the weekend.
It served as a rallying cry for the Falcons. They scored 28 seconds into the second period when freshman Luke Santerno shuffled a greasy goal past Urbani. Bentley made it 3-0 four minutes later when senior captain Kyle Schmidt slipped a snapshot over the crease line.
“Our energy level and mental toughness were great right from the start,” Soderquist said. “(On Friday night), we didn’t play the first ten minutes of the game very well, and tonight we played all 60 minutes.”
Canisius didn’t take the deficit lying down. Earlier this season, the Griffs trailed Bentley 2-0 but rallied to score five unanswered in a 5-2 victory in Buffalo. Facing a three-goal deficit, they went to work, chipping away through the latter half of the final frame, starting with junior defenseman Alex Jaeckle’s shot from the point deflected off senior captain Ryan Schmelzer for a power play goal.
“There’s a lot of belief in our team,” Large said. “If you watch us play, there’s guys like (Matt) Hoover, (Nick Hutchison), and Ryan Schmelzer – they really drive our team. It’s easy to play when you’re down 3-0 because there’s really no choice. You know the opponent might be a little more relaxed, and you have no choice. You know you have to push. I wish the deficit wasn’t 3-0, but I think in those games, we’re going to get the ultimate effort from our guys. It’s actually pretty easy to do when you’re down.”
Though the score remained 3-1 through the next several minutes, Canisius head coach Trevor Large opted to pull Urbani with three minutes remaining. The extra skater helped apply the necessary pressure for Schmelzer to redirect Felix Chamberland’s pass into the back of the net, activating the red light and adding intrigue to the game’s final minute.
It would be of little consolation, however, as Bentley finished ahead on the scoresheet.
“We won more faceoffs, more wall battles, won on the penalty kill and won on shot blocking,” Soderquist said. “Those are things that we can control every night, and that’s what we’re trying to do to get better. That’s what we try to do every night.”
The Bentley win earned a weekend split for the Falcons, their first league win since beating Robert Morris back in late November. It also denied Canisius for the third straight week of a sweep, a feat the Griffs haven’t accomplished since beating Niagara on back-to-back nights in early December.
“I thought (this weekend) had two really similar games,” Large said. “It was tough sledding out there. Bentley’s compete level was high (on Friday) and was equally high (in the second game). We got outworked for the first two periods (in Saturday’s game), but it wasn’t that we weren’t competing. They got that first goal, and that made a difference in how the two teams were feeling. We had a good push in the third period, and maybe with a little more time, we could’ve tied it up. But the harder working team came out on top.”
Saturday’s result earned Bentley two much-needed points in the Atlantic Hockey playoff race, vaulting the Falcons over Sacred Heart and into 10th place. It also kept pace with both RIT and Air Force – coincidentally also their opponents over the next two weekends. Though the Falcons remain four and three points back of both teams, respectively, they still control their own destiny for home ice in the first round of the postseason.
Canisius, meanwhile, remained in first place, although the door momentarily opened for Holy Cross to seize the position. A Crusader loss to RIT kept the two teams tied atop the Atlantic Hockey table, and they remain two points clear of Mercyhurst after the Laker victory at Army West Point. Both teams remain clear of Niagara and Robert Morris, who are tied, four points behind, for fourth and fifth place.
GAME NOTES
This was Canisius’ final game at the JAR in a series dating back to 1980-1981. Though the Griffs lead the overall series, 32-24-6, the teams finish the JAR era with an even 15-15-1…The win was Bentley’s first against Canisius since Game One of the 2014 AHC Quarterfinals. The Falcons tied the Griffs last year and in 2014-2015 but hadn’t beaten them in the regular season since a 4-1 win in Buffalo…It was Bentley’s first home regular season win against Canisius since a sweep in January, 2013…Kyle Schmidt’s 50th career goal gave him 109 career points, moving him within a point of the Top 20 scorers in Bentley program history. He is already in the Top 10 in the Falcons’ Division I history.
