By LIAM O’BRIEN
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
Only once this winter will fans of the University of Maine men’s hockey team, the seventh-ranked squad in the nation, have a chance to see their team play in Southern Maine.
This year, the Bentley University men’s hockey team spoiled the Black Bears lone trip to Portland’s Cross Insurance Arena on Dec. 29. The Falcons notched a huge 4-2 victory, the first time they have ever knocked off a top-five team in program history.
“It’s a fun environment,” Bentley head coach Andy Jones said. “Just because they play one down there, it’s usually well attended. We started on time, and we were good early.”
Bentley got going immediately in the contest, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first two periods. They then relied on a stifling penalty kill and a scintillating 43-save performance by junior goaltender Connor Hasley to preserve the advantage.
“We killed 14.5 minutes of penalties, and that is draining,” Jones said. “The story of the game was the penalty kill. Hasley played a terrific game, that is the other story. We were opportunistic. The ice was tilted in our direction most of the night, and we blocked 30 shots.”
Holding up to the formidable Black Bears did not come as a surprise for Bentley, sporting a record of 12-8-2 heading into the Waltham Community Weekend matchups against Holy Cross on Jan. 17-18.
The Falcons were close to knocking off Maine a year ago, and they do not plan on resting on their laurels following this upset.
“It’s a nice win for our players, but we’re going to be measured by how much better we get the rest of the year,” Jones said. “Conference play is a grueling schedule. Sometimes it’s a war of attrition, and you just have to stack together a bunch of pretty good days throughout the year.”
Bentley has remained on the road since the win in Portland and will return to Waltham coming off a split of a two-game series in Colorado against the Air Force Academy.
The team enjoyed plenty of success at Bentley Arena in the first half of the season, amounting a 7-2-1 home record with two-game sweeps over the likes of the American Institute of Technology and the aforementioned Air Force Falcons.
“We improved quite a bit during that home stretch,” Jones said. “I look back on that time fondly because I thought we got better as a team.”
Thus far, a balanced attack has guided Bentley’s offensive approach. Graduate student Ethan Leyh and freshman Oskar Bakkevig are tied for the team lead with eight goals apiece, with four other contributors recording at least five scores. The Falcons will look for each member of the squad to make strides in order to reach their goals over the last dozen tilts of the regular season.
“We’re looking for chemistry up and down the lineup,” Jones said. “Looking for individual improvement within guys, which is going to make the collective better. We’re looking to develop our skills. A big part of the college hockey experience is individuals getting better. We invest a lot of time in skill development, and I want to see us continue to make strides in that area.”
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