Bentley came back from a tough 6-4 loss to Holy Cross in Worcester on
Friday night with a well-played 2-1 win in Watertown on Saturday night.
The first period was fast-paced two-way hockey, with freshman Paul
Markarian scoring at 9:32, with assists from freshman Ryan Mayhew and
junior Joe Lovell. Bentley killed off two 2-min minors and HC one minor in
the latter part of the first period.

HC picked up two 2-min minors a few seconds apart, which led to Markarian
getting his second goal on the 5-3 power play at 9:13 in the second
(assists to Joe Lovell and Seth Vinocur). HC picked up three more minors
and a 10-min major in the latter part of the second period, but Bentley
could not capitalize.

In the first couple of minutes of the third, Lovell clanked a post, but
then at 5:11 Tim Bernstein scored unassisted to make the score 2-1, which
it remained. HC picked up two minors and Bentley one in the third. Bentley
clanked a post again when the HC net was empty during the last minute of
the game.

Bentley benefited with a rare two to one advantage in power play minutes
in Watertown on Saturday night. Simon St. Pierre stopped 33 shots for
Bentley, while Ben Conway picked up 20 saves for Holy Cross.

Andy Peters and Marcus Willy, Bentley's only two seniors, were honored at
the beginning of the game. Despite just missing out on getting home ice
for the post-season, Bentley had a fantastic break-out season. With 11 or
12 freshmen and sophomores, including sophomore goalie Simon St. Pierre,
playing most nights, Bentley can look forward to the future under the
guidance of first-year head coach Ryan Soderquist.

Saturday night's game concluded the regular seasons for Bentley and Holy
Cross. With 29 points, HC is tied with Sacred Heart for third place in the
MAAC, but has split their two-game series, winning 7-1 and losing 3-1, so
HC should get the #3 seed? With 26 points, Bentley is tied for 5th with
Army, but Army has one more regular season game with 2nd place Quinnipiac
(35 points) on Sunday the 9th. Bentley has won both series with Holy Cross
and Sacred Heart 2-3, and beat Army all three times during the regular
season. Also, many MAAC teams have played Quinnipiac and Mercyhurst (40
points) tough all season. So, the MAAC tournament is up for grabs.

Go Falcons!

Thom Davis
UNH'71