Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
13-17-4, 12-12-2
Bentley University
11-21-2, 8-16-2
Hockey Closes Regular Season with Overtime Defeat; Will Travel to Canisius for Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals
February 25, 2023 | Hockey
WALTHAM, MA – Army West Point hockey (13-17-4, 12-12-2 AHA) fell 5-4 in overtime to close out the regular season against Bentley (11-21-2, 8-16-2 AHA). The Black Knights finish the regular season in fifth-place and will play a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Canisius next weekend.
Army jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening five minutes, but the Falcons fought back to eventually take a third period lead. Gavin Abric made 40 saves, including a penalty shot late in the third period to get Army into the overtime period.
Army scored within the first 75 seconds of the game, with Ricky Lyle finding John Keranen with a short pass out in front for Keranen's 11th tally of the season. Army continued to play with purpose from the jump, netting a second goal less than 140 seconds later, with John Driscoll firing home off a cross-ice feed from Joey Baez. It marked the second assist of the opening few minutes from Baez, as Army then went to the first power-play of the game at the 10:37 mark.
With its first momentum of the game after killing the penalty, Bentley answered after an Army turnover in its own end to make it a 2-1 game with 5:39 to go in the period. The Black Knights outshot the Falcons 14-9 in the period and took a lead into the first intermission.
After getting another power-play, Army's lethal duo of Max Itagaki and Joey Baez linked up once again. Leading the conference in assists, Itagaki tabbed a helper to Atlantic Hockey's new leading goal scorer, Baez. It was a 5-on-3 goal for the Black Knights, who seemed in control midway through the second period. Bentley responded with a goal at the 10:19 mark as Harrison Scott beat Abric with a top-shelf finish to make it a 3-2 game. Completely changing the complexion of the contest, the Falcons tied the game right before the end of the second to take all the momentum into the third.
Dylan Pitera gave Bentley its first lead 2:50 into the third with his second tally of the game, but Army refused to lie down after giving up the lead. It was the fourth line who responded to the adversity, with Hunter McCoy finding Reese Farrell with a centering pass as the plebe tucked home his second goal of the campaign to tie the score. Bentley went on to dominate the period, with 13 shots on target compared to Army's five. Abric stopped a flurry of good looks throughout, eventually being tasked with a Bentley penalty shot with under five minutes to go as Army's power-play could not convert and conceded the penalty shot.
Abric stood tall once again, making a glove save on Cole Kodski to eventually extend the game into overtime. After winning the opening faceoff in the extra period, the Falcons quickly got a shot on target as Abric made the save but was unable to stop the next attempt by Nicholas Niemo as the Falcons secured the overtime winner just 22 seconds into the extra frame.
Army clinches the number five seed in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament and will travel to four-seeded Canisius for a best-of-three quarterfinal series beginning on Friday, March 3rd.
