RABBIT RABBIT
The month of November kicks off on Friday night, as the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team travels to Bentley for the front end of an early-season Atlantic Hockey home-and-home series. The Falcons will make the return trip to Martire Family Arena on Saturday night, with both games scheduled for 7 p.m. puck drops. Action will air live on FloSports both nights; Dan Rubin has the call from Bentley Arena on Friday, while Anthony Saccone handles play-by-play duties in Fairfield on Saturday. Tickets for Saturday night are available via Ticketmaster. In a quirk of the calendar, Friday will mark the first time in nearly 30 years the two teams have met on the first of the month. SHU pulled out a 4-2 road win on Feb. 1, 1995.

LAST WEEKEND
The Pioneers split their first Atlantic Hockey series of the season, but took four out of six points on home ice against Holy Cross in the process. On Friday night, Holy Cross erased a third-period deficit to pull out a 2-1 (OT) win on Liam McLinskey's overtime winner. On Saturday, SHU returned the favor by erasing a 1-0 deficit of its own, but got things done in regulation, courtesy of a Reid Pabich tally in the middle of the third period which secured a 2-1 victory. Cullen DeYoung stopped 60 of 63 shots in net over the two games.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Bentley also split its opening AHA series, though there were considerably more goals on the board in its matchup at Army than the SHU/Holy Cross tilts. On Friday night, Nik Armstrong-Kingkade went for 1-3-4 and Ethan Leyh added 2-1-3, including a third-period, power-play tally to ice things, as Bentley took a 6-3 barnburner. Army responded on Saturday afternoon with a 4-1 victory, behind a goal and two assists from Brent Keefer. Four Bentley players have at least five points through the first six games.

PREVIOUSLY AGAINST BENTLEY
The two teams last saw each other in the regular-season finale late in February. Marcus Joughin and Brendan Dumas staked the Pios to a first-period lead, but Kellan Hjartarson struck in the second and Ryan Upson evened things up in the third, as Bentley erased a two-goal deficit and force overtime. The Falcons would ultimately take the extra point via a 2-0 win in the shootout.

ALL-TIME SERIES
The two longtime Atlantic Hockey and MAAC foes have met 87 times in a series which dates to 1994, with SHU holding a 43-37-7 advantage, including a 29-22-7 edge across 58 Atlantic Hockey contests. The Pios are 23-21-5 all-time on the road against Bentley, including 4-2-1 at Bentley Arena since its opening in 2018. SHU holds a 20-15-2 record on home ice against the Falcons, but Bentley took the only previous meeting at Martire Family Arena in overtime back in January.

UP NEXT
After playing three of its first four Atlantic Hockey contests at home, SHU is in for a long haul next weekend, as it treks out to Erie, Pa., for a pair at Mercyhurst on Nov. 8-9. Puck drop is 7 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday at Mercyhurst Ice Center.