Box Score BUFFALO, N.Y. – After a wild first period in which all six of the game's goals were scored, Bentley and Canisius ended up playing to a 3-3 tie on Saturday night at the HarborCenter in an Atlantic Hockey matchup. Senior captain Max French (West Kelowna, B.C./West Kelowna) led the Bentley offense with two goals.
Neither team could stop scoring in an explosive six-goal 1st period. Bentley got it started on French's first of the night, just 2:08 into the game. With Bentley on the power play, defenseman Tanner Jago (Brandon, Manitoba/Portage) set the goal up with a slap shot blast from the point, that French tipped in past Canisius goalie Daniel Urbani in front of the net to put Bentley up 1-0.
Just over six minutes elapsed before Bentley went up 2-0. Line mates Kyle Schmidt (Menomonee Falls, Wisc./Sioux City) and Ryner Gorowsky (Lino Lakes, Minn./Fairbanks) combined on the goal. Gorowsky had the puck down low, and fed Schmidt for a quick one-timer past Urbani for Schmidt's 6th goal of the season.
Canisius though fought back with two straight goals. First by forward Ryan Schmelzer at 9:57, then by Felix Chamberland on the power play at 14:02 to knot the game at 2-2.
It wasn't long until French lit the lamp again though for the Falcons, as the senior captain beat Urbani with a backhander in front of the net at the 16:33 mark to give Bentley a 3-2 lead. The assists came from Gorowsky and Schmidt on the goal.
The scoring, however, wasn't done, as Nolan Sheeran scored for the Griffs less than a minute later for a 3-3 tie, and that's how the opening period ended.
Both goalies settled down and slammed the door on both offenses over the final two periods, and overtime. Bentley freshman Aidan Pelino (Oakville, Ontario/Chilliwack) made his first career start in between the pipes and finished the night with 36 saves. His counterpart, fellow freshman Urbani, stopped 35 shots. Both goalies had one save in overtime.
Bentley had the better chances down the stretch in the 3rd period. Urbani denied Matt Riggleman (Milford, Mich./Sioux Falls) at the end of a 2 on 1 break into Bentley's offensive zone with just over two minutes left. While defenseman Alexey Solovyev (Moscow, Russia/Lone Star) also had a quality scoring chance denied by Urbani seconds later after a face-off win by French.
The tie moved Bentley's records to 3-7-4 overall and 2-5-3 in Atlantic Hockey games. They'll get back on the ice next Friday night to host Robert Morris at the JAR.
