WATERTOWN, Mass. – The Army hockey team closed out the regular season with a 2-2 tie on Saturday night against Bentley and will host a first-round series in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament.
Army (11-13-9, 8-11-9 AHA) took three of four points from the Falcons and is the sixth seed in the upcoming Atlantic Hockey Tournament. The Black Knights will host American International.
The Black Knights were led by Clint Carlisle and Shane Hearn, who had goals tonight for the visitors. Ian Mansfield chipped in with his second point of the weekend with an assist, while Joe Kozlak and Joe Shecter tallied helpers as well. Parker Gahagen stopped 35 saves in net to get the tie.
Bentley (11-16-5, 9-13-4 AHA) got goals from Alexey Soloyvey and Andrew Chugg, while Soloyvey was the team’s high scorer with two points after tallying an assist. Gabe Antoni finished with 27 saves and was impressive when he had to be.
The Black Knights continued their hot start from last night and took a 1-0 lead with Carlisle scoring 4:30 into the game. He was able to control a bouncing puck and found Antoni out of position and hit the back of net for his sixth of the season. Joe Kozlak and Joe Shecter were given the assists on the play.
The Falcons answered with 11:58 on the clock with Chugg tying the game at 1-1 with assists to Alexey Solovyev and Tyler Krause. Bentley took a 2-1 advantage with Soloyvev scoring on Gahagen with 6:56 left in the first period with an assist to Krause.
Army tied the game at 2-2 with 4:44 left in the second period. The Black Knights took advantage of a defensive mistake by the Falcons and Hearn chipped a backhander over the outstretched pads of Antoni.
That was the end of the scoring for the night as the teams settled for a 2-2 tie. Army finished in a tie with Canisius for the sixth spot and owned the tiebreaker after taking three of four points against the Griffs earlier this season.
All three games of the best-of-three series start at 7:05 p.m.
Tickets for the Atlantic Hockey First Round go on sale for season ticket members on Monday at 10 a.m. and those fans can purchase their season seat location.
The general public can purchase tickets beginning on Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the ticket office. Prices are $10 for chairbacks and $9 for bleacher seating at Tate Rink.
Ice Shavings: Army finishes in its highest spot in the league standings since 2009-10 … this was the 57th meeting between Army and Bentley … Gahagen made his career high 28th start this season … Mansfield scored his second point of the weekend and the season with an assist … Hearn tallied his second goal of the season and both have come against Bentley with the first coming at the Barclays Center … Army finished the season with three points against the Falcons after Bentley took three of the first four in the first two meetings.
