Hockey Suffers 5-2 Defeat Against Bentley at Home

Tuesday, January 2

West Point, NY

7:00 PM

Army West Point

5-13-0, 3-9-0

Bentley University

10-10-0, 6-6-0

Bentley

Army West Point

Hockey Suffers 5-2 Defeat Against Bentley at Home

January 02, 2024 | Hockey

Box Score

WEST POINT, NY - Army West Point hockey (5-13-0, 3-9-0 AHA) fell by a score of 5-2 to Bentley (10-10-0, 6-6-0 AHA) from Tate Rink on Tuesday night.

The Black Knights fell behind by a score of 3-0 in the first period as the cushion proved too much to overcome as the Falcons never let Army get it back within a goal. Gavin Abric made 25 saves in net for Army while Ricky Lyle and Stephen Willey providing the goals for the Black Knights, which marked for the first collegiate goal for Willey.

Bentley opened the scoring with a quick strike at the 6:23 mark from Ryan Mansfield off a faceoff win from Arlo Merritt. Mansfield then returned the favor to Merritt who got in behind the Army defense, and the Falcons were ahead by two less than 12 minutes into the contest.

Bentley kept the pressure on, scoring its third goal less than three minutes later as Stephen Castagna finished off a feed from Ethan Leyh at the 13:59 mark. Army found life just before the end of the period, with Max Itagaki entering the zone and sliding a pass from the right circle which found a charging Ricky Lyle who finished off his sixth goal of the campaign. Bentley outshot Army 8-6 in the opening frame, but took a four-minute penalty with 30 seconds remaining in the period to give Army an extended chance on the power-play to open the second.

Conor Hasley stood tall to limit Army's power-play attack, making 23 saves in total for the game as Army went 0-3 overall with the man advantage. Ryan Upson deposited his fourth of the season just after the extended penalty kill was up for Bentley, while Colton Cameron got his first career tally later in the period to make it a 5-1 game. Army entered the final period trailing by four.

Army found a lifeline once again with a goal from Stephen Willey at the 5:35 mark of the third, as Willey fired a low wristshot which beat Hasley for his first career score. Michael Sacco logged his 11th assist of the campaign on the goal while John Driscoll collected his seventh.

The Black Knights were unable to beat Hasley again despite ten shots on goal in the frame, as the Falcons moved back to .500 for the season with an eventual 5-2 victory on the road.

Army will return on Saturday for a contest at #19 Penn State with puck drop set for 6:00.