Box Score WATERTOWN, Mass. – The Sacred Heart men's hockey team dropped its series opener to the Bentley Falcons 4-2 Friday night at John A. Ryan Arena, its third straight conference loss.
Bentley (10-13-3, 8-9-3 AHC) got on the scoreboard first when Michael Reardon put a Derek Bacon pass past Sacred Heart goaltender Brett Magnus 8:37 into the hockey game. Andrew Gladiuk put the Falcons ahead 2-0 with 2:54 remaining in the opening period, scoring his 12th goal of the season. Sacred Heart (10-14-3, 8-11-2 AHC) cut the deficit in half 25 seconds later when Alec Butcher scored his third goal of the season, assisted by his linemates Zach Luczyk and Zach Sabatini.
The Falcons quickly re-established their two goal lead in the second period as Will Suter scored 2:03 into the frame to make the score 3-1. The Pioneers, once again, cut the deficit to one with 11:27 remaining in the second. Freshman Adam Durkee scored his first career goal, with an assist from Evan Jasper, to make the score 3-2. Sacred Heart had two power plays in the second period, but couldn't score on three shots. Bentley took a 4-2 lead early in the third on a Kyle Schmidt power play goal. The Pioneers outshot the Falcons 9-8 in the final period, but Falcons goaltender Gabe Antoni made the two-goal lead hold up for the Bentley victory.
Bentley outshot Sacred Heart 36-34 for the game. The Falcons were 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Pioneers were 0-for-6. Both Antoni and Magnus made 32 saves in goal.
The two teams conclude their weekend series tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m.
FIRST PERIOD
- The Pioneers went on the penalty kill 1:06 into the game, with Magnus stopping three shots to kill the penalty.
- Sacred Heart had seven straight shot attempts just over six minutes into the game, four that were stopped by Antoni and one from Butcher that hit the post.
- Butcher's goal was his third of the season, as well as his 20th point of the season. It was his first goal since Nov. 29. Luczyk's assist on the goal extended his point-scoring streak to five games.
- Bentley outshot Sacred Heart 17-15 in the first period.
SECOND PERIOD
- Sacred Heart was 0-for-2 on the power play with three shots.
- Durkee's goal was the first of his career. All three of his career points have come in the last two games.
THIRD PERIOD
- The Pioneers went on the power play 2:39 into the period, nine seconds after Schmidt put Bentley ahead 4-2. Luczyk had a pair of shots saved on that man advantage.
- Sacred Heart had another power play with 1:22 to go, but couldn't put a shot on goal.
