GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey -- Atlantic Conference’s Bentley Falcons Invade Yost -- First Ever Meeting

Posted at 6:00am — 10/7/2011

GBMWolverine: Michigan Hockey — Atlantic Conference’s Bentley Falcons Invade Yost — First Ever Meeting

#6 Michigan (1-0-0) vs. Bentley Falcons (10-18-6 in 2010-11)
7:35 p.m.Yost Ice Arena, Ann Arbor both nights. TV: none.
Michigan and Bentley have never met.

Rewinding Michigan’s Previous Action:
The Wolverines opened the regular season with a systematic 5-0 victory over Niagara this past Tuesday. Lindsay Sparks and Chris Brown led the offensive attack netting two goals each (originally Sparks was credited with a goal that was later changed to Brown.) Freshmen Zach Hyman (2 assists) Alex Guptill (1 assist) and Travis Lynch (1 shorthanded goal) tallied points in their first official collegiate outing. Shawn Hunwick shutout the Eagles through fifty minutes, stopping 30 shots and added an assist. Adam Janecyk played the last ten minutes and preserved the shutout. Hunwick made several dazzling saves to preserve an early 2-0 lead before Michigan pulled away in the second period.

Scouting the Falcons:
Bentley University is a small, well respected center of higher learning just minutes west from Boston. Originally a business school specializing in Finance and Accounting, it now offers a wide variety of other business related curriculum and boasts of over 4,300 on campus students.

Bentley is part of the Atlantic Hockey Conference which houses twelve teams including Michigan’s opening opponent, Niagara. Fans may remember that Michigan was beaten by the AHA’s Air Force Academy at the 2008-09 West Regional and that RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) made it to the NCAA Frozen Four in Detroit in 2010. Both of those schools are favored to battle for their league title again. Bentley, on the other hand, has not competed well at the Division I level since moving up from DII for the 1999-2000 season. The Falcons have been mired near the bottom of their league standings each year and are expected to do so again, chosen for 11th in the pre-season poll. They posted their best season in 2008-09 going 19-17-2.

The Falcons finished 10th in the AHA last season with a 10-18-6 record. The biggest weakness they exhibited was their anemic scoring which ranked near the bottom of the 60 NCAA teams at 2.53 goals per game. The Falcons lost five seniors from their roster including their top goalscorer, their third best goalscorer and their top netminder. They were outscored 117-86 and gave up an average of 3.44 goals per game. One of their most glaring weaknesses within the offense was their poor power play conversion which was only 8.4%.

The good news for the Falcons is they do have a decent core of returning players including eight seniors, with most of that experience on defense. Co-Captain Trent Bonnett (0-5-5) is a tough stay at home blueliner, while Co-Captain Jamie Nudy is one of the leaders on offense (5-10-15). Fellow seniors Aaron Stonecek (6-9-15), defenseman Ryan Kayfes (3-9-12) and defenseman Mike Switzer (3-10-13) will be counted on to chip in much needed leadership. The real scoring though has to come from sophomore Brent Gensler (13-11-24) and a trio of juniors: Joe Campanelli (8-10-18), Brent Hartung (8-7-15) and Dan Koudys (6-9-15).

Bentley returns senior goaltender Kyle Rank (4-5-2, 3.46 GAA, .904 Sv. %) and sophomore Branden Komm (1-5-1, 3.16 GAA & .890 Sv. %)

The Falcons have infused several freshmen into the lineup but have not played any games this season. Look for Alex Grieve, Alex Kubiak and Brett Switzer to make their debuts up front for Bentley.

The Wolverines will be the highest ranked team that Bentley has ever played. This is not the first games against CCHA opponents, though as the Falcons have battled LSSU, WMU, UNO and Ohio State in the recent past, going 0-6-1 against them.

Charting The Wolverines:
The victory against Niagara was a nice start for a team that is needs to build some confidence before facing some tougher competition. Lindsay Sparks, a little used forward his first two seasons potted two goals (he had eight total in his career) and was buzzing all night. Chris Brown spent as much time in the penalty box as he did taking shifts, something that I am certain coach Berenson will caution him about. Still, Brown was credited with two goals also. Freshman Zach Hyman was instrumental in setting up two goals and looks to be a real play-maker that this team is in desperate need of.

Shawn Hunwick was sharp but yielded too many uncontrolled rebounds. Still, posting a shutout in his first outing (shared with Janecyk) was impressive. The team defense graded out pretty well, as did the special teams, shutting down six Niagara PP’s and going 1-4 on their own PP.

Expectation:
Bentley is not going to be one of the better teams on Michigan’s schedule and all indication is, unless the Wolverines absolutely throw their sticks on the ice, they should skate to two comfortable wins. But, Bentley will work hard and if Michigan isn’t careful, they could be in for a dogfight. The biggest competition this weekend may be the Wolverines own complacency and lack of focus.

5-1, 6-2 Michigan.

Yost Bits:
-Michigan announced that they have been awarded the host designation for the 2013 NCAA West Regional
that will be held at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.

-Freshman defenseman Mike Szuma continues to recuperate from an ankle injury suffered in the exhibition loss to Ontario Institute of Technology.

-Speaking of that loss, Michigan hadn’t lost to a Canadian school since 1972 when the Wolverines lost to Western Ontario University.

-Healthy scratches against Niagara: junior Jeff Rohrkemper, freshman Andrew Sinelli, Szuma and suspended defenseman Jon Merrill.

-Michigan will host another weekday game next Thursday, 10/13 against St. Lawrence.

Become a GBMWolverine member and talk hockey in the forum. Stay tuned to the forum for the latest Michigan Hockey news… Go Blue!

Please comment on our GBMWolverine Message Board about this article and read what others comment.

You can contact us at our e-mail address: GBMWolverine

Written by GBMWolverine Staff — YostMeister

Go Blue — Wear Maize!

Home/Michigan Football