Northeastern Edges Bentley

The 20th ranked Northeastern Huskies earned their second win of the regular season, defeating the Bentley Falcons, 3-2. In the victory, two reviewed plays and 10 Falcon penalties buoyed the Huskies.

Bentley right wing Marc Menzione put the first puck in the net at 8:51 on a power play and Northeastern winger Justin Daniels followed suit on his team’s own power play at 11:10 to tie the game at one. In the second period, Bentley was shorthanded five times, making it easier for the Huskies to score two more goals, finishing the period up 3-1.

Marc Menzione watches the puck sail past Chris Rawlings to put Bentley up 1-0 after an earlier Bentley goal was disallowed.

Freshman defenseman Jake Newton scored his first goal in a Husky uniform on an assist from Steve Silva and Wade McLeod at 6:09. Newton returned the favor at 14:59 when he and McLeod assisted Silva in slipping one past Bentley goalie Joe Calvi.

“We took some penalties in the second period that we didn’t need to take and they capitalized on that,” said Bentley head coach Ryan Soderquist. “You can’t give a good team that many penalties and expect to win.”

Penalties weren’t the only strike against the Falcons. Two potential goals were taken away after the referees reviewed them. According to Soderquist, both attempts, which came in the first and second periods, were ruled no good as they were kicked into the net. While they potentially could have won the game, Bentley didn’t argue.

“I don’t think the reviewed plays had any determination in the game,” said Soderquist.

The Falcons took the ice in the third period looking to cover the ground they lost in the second. Offense was the name of their game as they took 15 shots on Husky freshman netminder Chris Rawlings in the third period alone, tripling the amount of shots they took in the middle frame.

Rawlings saved 27 of the 29 shots on goal.

At 19:45, Falcons left wing Erik Peterson snuck one past the 6-foot-5 goaltender to cut make it a one goal deficit before the final buzzer. The Huskies outshot the Falcons 31-26, but sloppy shooting and handling made the game a little closer than Northeastern head coach Greg Cronin would have liked.

“I think we got a little too seduced by our puck handling, “ said Cronin. “We thought we were more like the Harlem Globetrotters than we were a hockey team. We missed the net repeatedly with hard shots that triggered easy clears by them and they stayed in the game.”

Northeastern’s Jake Newton had a goal and an assist in the win.

Northeastern newbie defenseman Jake Newton showed that he has what it takes to add depth to the seasoned Northeastern defense as well as the offense. Newton was able to contribute a goal and an assist while providing solid defense in just this third regular season game.

“Jake was kind of feeling his way around in Colorado last weekend but I thought tonight he was terrific,” said Cronin. “He carried the puck well, he made good decisions, he was strong on the defensive side of the puck and was good on the power play.”

Bentley will look to turn their luck around against Quinnipiac tomorrow in Hamden, Connecticut at 4 p.m., while the Huskies will try and keep their momentum going next Friday on the road as they take on Hockey East rival New Hampshire in Durham.