Atlantic Hockey Preview - Bentley
We move to Waltham, MA for my pick for the 8th place team in the conference - the Bentley Falcons.
A couple years ago, Bentley nearly sent shock waves throughout the NCAA when they made it to the AHA championship game and a win would have put them in the tournament and Holy Cross would have been an at-large bid. This made them a dark horse last year. However, they scuffled last year, particularly at the end.
The offense that was supposed to be much better only had marginal improvement. The good news is that most of their top scorers are returning. Jeff Gumaer and Dain Prewitt each had double digit goals and are juniors this year. But they need to gel better this year, particularly on special teams. They scored on a paltry 11.8% of their power play chances. This unit must improve though in order to be competitive in the AHA.
Defensively, the Falcons were not that bad. They allowed only 30.1 shots on goal per game. They were respectable in penalty kill - only allowing goals on 17.9% of opponents power plays. This in an experienced bunch as well. The three seniors will be expected to mark opponents and keep the other teams from getting good chances.
The weakest link for Bentley is their goaltending. Jason Kearney is the most experienced goalie on the roster. But in two years, he has only played 18 games. His numbers are respectable on his career - 3.44 goals against average and .898 save percentage. Nick Moise is also a junior but has only played 4 games in this career. Joe Calvi is a freshman and may get some playing time if Kearney and Moise can't do the job.
I don't know what to make of this team. Last year, I picked them too high and they dissappointed. This team could be like UConn last year. However, I think inexperience in net will really do in the Falcons as they don't have the offense to make up for it.
Projected record: 8-20
A couple years ago, Bentley nearly sent shock waves throughout the NCAA when they made it to the AHA championship game and a win would have put them in the tournament and Holy Cross would have been an at-large bid. This made them a dark horse last year. However, they scuffled last year, particularly at the end.
The offense that was supposed to be much better only had marginal improvement. The good news is that most of their top scorers are returning. Jeff Gumaer and Dain Prewitt each had double digit goals and are juniors this year. But they need to gel better this year, particularly on special teams. They scored on a paltry 11.8% of their power play chances. This unit must improve though in order to be competitive in the AHA.
Defensively, the Falcons were not that bad. They allowed only 30.1 shots on goal per game. They were respectable in penalty kill - only allowing goals on 17.9% of opponents power plays. This in an experienced bunch as well. The three seniors will be expected to mark opponents and keep the other teams from getting good chances.
The weakest link for Bentley is their goaltending. Jason Kearney is the most experienced goalie on the roster. But in two years, he has only played 18 games. His numbers are respectable on his career - 3.44 goals against average and .898 save percentage. Nick Moise is also a junior but has only played 4 games in this career. Joe Calvi is a freshman and may get some playing time if Kearney and Moise can't do the job.
I don't know what to make of this team. Last year, I picked them too high and they dissappointed. This team could be like UConn last year. However, I think inexperience in net will really do in the Falcons as they don't have the offense to make up for it.
Projected record: 8-20
posted by Komey at 4:10 PM
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