Bentley used three power-play goals to go along with an empty-net tally in a 4-1 victory against the Canisius College hockey team on Saturday afternoon. The loss drops the Griffs to 8-12-1 and 7-6-1 against Atlantic Hockey foes, while the Falcons improve to 12-8-2 and 10-3-2 in league play.

“We knew coming into the weekend that Bentley was a great transition and power-play team and we weren’t able to stop them today,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “We had decent energy and we did a good job early taking the puck hard to the net, which drew some scoring chances and penalties. We need to remain committed and stay consistent with that and also do a better job in the special-teams game if we want to be successful tomorrow.”

Junior Tyler Wiseman (Burlington, Ontario) scored the lone goal for the Griffs, while junior Keegan Asmundson (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) recorded 26 saves in defeat.

Canisius grabbed the early lead in the contest when Wiseman netted his third tally of the season. On a rush, Wiseman gathered a loose puck in the slot and sent a wrist shot over the left shoulder of the Bentley netminder for the 1-0 advantage. Freshman Shane Conacher (Burlington, Ontario) and sophomore Ralph Cuddemi (Concord, Ontario) both posted assists on the tally just 1:43into the contest.

The Griffs then should have extended their lead to two six minutes into the game but the referee waved off a Canisius goal. SeniorKyle Gibbons (Westlake, Ohio) blocked a Bentley shot, gathered the puck and skated into the Falcons zone, sending a shot on goal. The puck deflected off the Bentley goalie and trickled toward the net. Gibbons then skated behind the goalie and tapped the puck into the net with his stick but the referee saw it differently and ruled he kicked it in, preventing Canisius from taking its 2-0 lead.

The Falcons were able to take advantage of the official’s decision with success on the power play. Bentley scored its first extra-man goal with just 42 seconds remaining in the first period when Jared Rickord knocked the puck in from close range, squaring the contest at one after 20 minutes of play.

Bentley then took the lead when Andrew Gladiuk scored his first of two power-play goals on the day. He netted the go-ahead tally9:37 into the second frame after a Bentley player knocked the puck across the goal crease to Gladiuk, who then scored with an open look for the 2-1 advantage.

The game remained a one-goal contest until the closing minutes when Canisius was whistled for a five-minute major penalty with just7:58 left in regulation. The Falcons once again took advantage of the extra man when Gladiuk scored with 5:02 remaining in the game for the 3-1 lead. Bentley then sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 30 seconds left for the 4-1 final score.

The Falcons finished the game with a 30-21 advantage in shots. Bentley controlled the special-teams battle, going 3-for-5 with the extra-man advantage and killing all four Canisius power plays.

Branden Komm recorded 20 saves in the winning effort for Bentley.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Three first period goals proved to be the difference at Harvard on Saturday night as the Raiders defeated the Crimson, 4-2, for their fourth-straight win.

Colgate (11-9-3, 7-3-1 ECAC) was led by Ryan Johnston with a goal and an assist. His goal ended the night as it came on an empty net with 13 seconds left. His assist was the primary on the eventual gamewinner.

“We were able to get off to a hot start and that really set the tone for the night,” head coach Don Vaughan said. “We have had excellent starts to games in the last three weeks. It is tough to play from behind and we did too much of that earlier on in the year.

“We were able to jump on Harvard early and hang on, but I am really proud of our guys tonight and it’s great to get a win on the road.”

Charlie Finn improved his record to 7-4-2 with 23 saves and is unbeaten in his last five starts. He was tested in the third with nine saves and has not given up more than two goals during his unbeaten streak.

He continues to come up big for Colgate and he did down the stretch with the Crimson putting the pressure on late in the game.

“Huge,” said Vaughan when asked about his two saves in the final minutes. “I tell our goalies that they don’t have to make all the saves, but you have to make the right saves and he did that tonight as they were coming hard late in the game.”

Harvard (5-10-3, 3-7-3 ECAC) got its two goals on the power play from Kyle Criscuolo. Peter Traber got the start in net and lasted only the first period before being relieved by Steve Michalek. Traber made 12 stops in the first, while Michalek didn’t allow a goal on 23 shots.

The Raiders took the early 1-0 lead just 2:54 into the game with Mike McCann scoring on a one-timer from the slot. John Lidgett muscled the puck behind the net and found McCann all alone in front. The lone senior skater beat Traber on the glove side with traffic around the crease. Derek Freeman was given the secondary assist on the goal.

Colgate kept coming and Tylor Spink took advantage of a bad play in front of the Harvard net. Traber made a stop and looked for his defenseman to clear the puck, but he didn’t. Tylor Spink swooped in and shot it past Traber to make it 2-0 with 10:50 left in the first.

The Raider advantage increased to 3-0 with 3:53 left in the first period with a great tip-in from Daniel Gentzler off a pass from Johnston. The sophomore defensemen saw Gentzler streaking in from the opposite side and put the puck in front. Gentzler redirected it into the open net for his second of the season.

It was the third time this season that Colgate had scored three goals in a period with the last coming against Clarkson in a 4-3 win onNov. 16.

Harvard brought the pressure in the second period and played a better 20 minutes than the first frame. Criscuolo was able to get the Crimson on the board early in the second period with a power play goal coming on a setup play. Luke Esposito fed Criscuolo from the below the goal line after Alexander Kerfoot dropped it down to Esposito from the point.

The Crimson were able to get to within one goal with 1:52 left in the game with Criscuolo scoring on the power play again. It was a 6-on-4 man advantage score and Criscuolo was in the slot and redirected a Jimmy Vesey shot from the point.

Harvard pulled the goalie again after getting possession of the puck and Darcy Murphy looked to have iced the game, but the puck rang off the post from about 120 feet.

That almost turned out to be a big unlucky bounce in the game, but Finn stepped up huge in the final minute. The rookie netminder made two big stops on the Crimson down the stretch and he thanked his defense for a great effort all night.

“The defense did a fantastic job for me tonight,” Finn said. “They allowed me to see the puck and be honest. They were solid, along with the forwards on their back checks and made my job a lot easier.”

Johnston sealed the deal with 13 seconds left in the game with an empty net goal from center ice. The defenseman made a really nice play to get free from the Harvard attackers and fired it into the net for the 4-2 win.

“Johnston made an unbelievable read inside the blueline on the empty net goal,” Vaughan said. “He looked to see the guys eyes and stepped in front of the pass.”

The Raiders swept their second league road weekend of the season and are 7-2-3 away from Starr Rink. With the two wins this weekend, Colgate has earned league points in five of the last six games of the conference campaign.

Colgate had a 39-25 shot advantage in the game. It was the first time in three games, the Raiders did not scored on the power play. Harvard had two power play goals on five chances.

Next up for Colgate is a visit from Clarkson and St. Lawrence next weekend at Starr Rink. Tickets are available atbleedcolgatemaroon.com or by calling the Colgate Ticket Office at 315-228-7600.

NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara hockey team was swept on home ice by Holy Cross in an Atlantic Hockey showdown as the Crusaders routed the Purple Eagles, 3-2 on Saturday evening at Dwyer Arena.

The Crusaders (6-15-2; 5-9-2 AHA) would score the go-ahead go at 17:42 of the final period to pull ahead of the Purple and White.  Jake Youso carried the puck from the defensive zone before releasing a shot on Niagara goalie Jackson Teichroeb that was mishandled and trickled behind the net.  The Purple Eagles could not control the loose puck and it squirted out to Tommy Dwyer at the top of the crease where he deposited it into the net to secure the victory.

“Penalties took us out of the flow in the second period.  We regrouped and got through it, but we need to be a little more disciplined,” head coach Dave Burkholder said.  “From start to finish we were all over Holy Cross when we were playing 5-on-5, but you have to give them credit.  They fought to the bitter end and swept us at home.  You can’t give a team like that seven power plays and expect to win.  Two nights in a row we put at least 40 shots on goal and we have nothing to show for it so it’s tough to swallow.”

For the second straight night, Holy Cross goaltender Matt Ginn was solid in net, stopping 38 of the 40 shots Niagara fired on goal.  Teichroeb finished with 21 saves, suffering the loss for the second straight night.

After sluggish start to the opening frame in game one of the series, Niagara (5-14-3; 5-7-3 AHA) jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play in the second game, outshooting Holy Cross 17-8.

Patrick Conte got the scoring started for the Purple and White at 10:36 of the frame.  Conte cleaned by a rebound on a shot by Ryan Rashid, whose attempt hit traffic out front where Conte pushed the loose puck into the back of the goal.  Holy Cross seemed to be headed into the first intermission down a goal, but Niagara’s Brock Edwards and Isaac Kohls combined with a textbook play that gave NU a two-goal lead.  Kohls connected with Edwards at the top of the slot and the freshman buried the pass with a wrister, beating Ginn glove-side.

Holy Cross responded in the second period with its own pair of tallies to tie the game at two apiece headlining into the final period of regulation.  Matt Vidal began the scoring for the Crusaders with 8:04 left in the second.  Mike Barrett caused a Niagara turnover behind its own net and fed the puck to Vidal at the top of the slot to cut Niagara’s lead in half.

It became a 2-2 game less than three minutes later as Tim Driscoll backhanded a shot off the post and past Teichroeb.

Niagara went 0-for-6 on the power play and 1-for-7 on the penalty kill.

Following this weekend’s two-game set against Holy Cross, Niagara will wrap up its five-game home stand when it hosts RIT on Jan. 24, a nationally-televised contest on CBS Sports Network.  Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Tickets are still available so call the Niagara Ticket Office (located inside Dwyer Arena) at 716-286-TIXX, visit www.PurpleEagles.com/Tickets or by emailing [email protected] to reserve your seats today!

GENEVA, N.Y.—The Hobart College hockey team returned home after a seven-game road trip and downed Potsdam 6-1 in a non-league game played tonight at The Cooler. First-year Nick Bingaman (Bedford, N.Y.) and sophomore Mac Olson (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) each notched two goals and an assist.

Junior Ryan Michel (Camillus, N.Y.) added three assists for the Statesmen who improve to 8-4-4 and have won six straight games. Junior Ian Coleman (Northport, N.Y.) produced a goal and an assist and classmate Bronson Kovacs (Sault Ste Marie, Ontario)posted two assists. Sophomore goalie Lino Chimienti (Montreal, Quebec) played all 60 minutes in goal and stopped 26 of the 27 shots he faced.

Brad Campagna scored the lone goal for Potsdam. The Bears fall to 6-10-0 overall. Shane Talarico played the opening 40 minutes in goal for Potsdam and made 29 saves. Austin Keiser came in for the third period and stopped eight shots.

Hobart jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Bingaman blasted a shot into the back of the net just 4:38 into the game after passes from Coleman and Kovacs. With 2:16 left in the opening period, Olson made it 2-0. Bingaman and first-year Bobby Sokol (Belle Vernon, Pa.) set up the play.

The second period saw a flurry of scoring as three goals came in a matter of 58 seconds. At 6:02, Bingaman struck again this time on a power play after a feed from Michel. It was Bingaman’s fourth goal this season. Just 26 seconds later, Campagna broke through for the Bears. His first goal of the season came off assists from Trevor Cope and Ken Simon and made it 3-1. Then 32 seconds later, junior Terrence O’Neill (Kearny, N.J.) stretched the Statesmen lead to 4-1 with his first goal this year. Senior Tommy Fiorentino (New Hartford, N.Y.) and Michel were credited with the assists. With 1:36 left in the middle period, Coleman extended the Hobart lead with his second goal this season. Sophomore Ben Gamache (Longlac, Ontario) pushed a pass from the right corner to Olson in the right faceoff circle. Olson found Coleman in the slot and he sent a one-timer into the top right corner of the goal.

At 12:55 in the third, Olson notched his second goal of the night for the final margin. Kovacs passed to Michel behind their own net and then Michel sent a long pass to Olson in the neutral zone. Olson broke away and scored top shelf. Olson leads Hobart with eight goals and 16 points this season.

The Statesmen finished with a 43-27 advantage in shots that included a 22-9 lead in the first period. Hobart went 1-for-4 on the power play and killed off all four of Potsdam’s power-play attempts.

The Statesmen will be back in action on Friday, Jan. 25 and Saturday, Jan. 26. Hobart will play at Manhattanville on both Friday andSaturday. Both games are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.