Wednesday in Watertown on Tap for #16 Men's Ice Hockey; Warriors Battle Bentley Tonight (7 p.m.)
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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – After playing five of its first six games at home, the No. 16 Merrimack College men's ice hockey team takes a break from league play when it visits Bentley University for the first of two road tilts at Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) foes on Wednesday (Nov. 4) night. Puck drop from the John A. Ryan Skating Arena is set for 7 p.m.
All-Time vs. Bentley:
While a common opponent on all of Merrimack's Division II sport schedules, Merrimack and Bentley have only met on four previous occasions in men's ice hockey, with the last showdown occurring just over two years ago in North Andover, when Merrimack held off the Falcons for a 3-1 victory at Lawler Rink. That game bridged a nearly 30-year gap in the all-time series, which Merrimack leads by a 4-0-0 margin. The Warriors won all three of those meetings in the 1980s, including the only previous one played in North Andover on Dec. 10, 1981 (5-2). The only other two contests were played in Waltham, one on Dec. 7, 1982 (4-1) and the last on Feb. 18, 1985 (5-3).
Last Time Out – UNH Hands Merrimack First Loss of 2015-16:
- Merrimack suffered its first setback of the 2015-16 season on Saturday night, as the Warriors dropped a 4-2 decision against visiting New Hampshire at Lawler Rink.
- The Wildcats took the wind out from under the hosts' sails after scoring twice in an 18-second span in the third minute of regulation.
- Merrimack's top line got one back five minutes later, as senior Brian Christie netted his third of the year after following up on his own rebound. Linemates Ben Bahe and Justin Hussar both helped set up the play to get the Warriors to within one.
- Just 49 seconds into the second period, Merrimack's penalty kill finally yielded its first goal of the season after turning away its first 20 attempts, as Andrew Poturalski buried a one-timer off a centering feed from the bottom of the near circle to make it a 3-1 game.
- Merrimack appeared to get within one later in the second after sophomore Jace Hennig sent a loose puck into the net following a scrum in front of UNH goaltender Adam Clark, but the goal was disallowed after the officials ruled that Clark was interfered with.
- Poturalski upped the ante to two for the visitors just 2:38 into the third, again on the power play, after teeing up a shot from the right point that went untouched into the low-left corner of the net to make it 4-1.
- Midway through the third, a UNH turnover led to Merrimack's second goal, as sophomore Brett Seney hopped on a loose puck behind the net and fed classmate Mathieu Tibbet for an easy one-time goal to cut the deficit in half. That score would hold the rest of the way.
The Falcons:
- Bentley enters Wednesday with a 3-2-1 overall mark and is unbeaten in its last three games since starting the year with back-to-back, one-goal losses at Mercyhurst
- After shocking the country with a two-game sweep of Northeastern in which the Huskies were the first Hockey East opponent ever to play a road game at Bentley, the Falcons went 1-0-1 against Army last weekend, posting a 2-2 tie in West Point before a 6-2 win at the Barclays Center
- A pair of defensemen lead the Falcons in scoring, as senior Matt Blomquist (1g, 6a) and freshman Tanner Jago (7a) both have tallied seven points
- Up front, senior forward Andrew Gladiuk has found the back of the net a team-leading four times
- In net, sophomore Jayson Argue has seen action in five games and owns a 1.78 GAA and .952 SV%
- The Falcons rank 15th nationally in scoring defense (2.17) and have been one of the top teams nationwide on special teams, ranking fifth on the power play (33.3) and 17th on the PK (86.4)
- Ryan Soderquist, a Bentley alum, is in his 14th season at Bentley and holds a 176-239-55 record
Up Next
Merrimack makes the long trek west to Buffalo for a single-game Saturday-night matchup against another Atlantic Hockey foe, as the Warriors meet Canisius for a 6 p.m. puck drop on Nov. 7 to round out the week.
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