Falcons travel to Bentley

This Week: Air Force (11-15-2, 9-11-2 AHA) travels to Waltham, Mass., for a two-game Atlantic Hockey series with the Bentley Falcons (12-15-1, 10-11-1 AHA), Friday-Saturday, Feb. 18-19. Friday's game starts at 7:05 pm ET while Saturday's opening faceoff is at 4:05 pm ET.

The Standings: AIC continues to lead Atlantic Hockey with 48 points, followed by Canisius, Sacred Heart, Army and RIT. Air Force is in eighth place with 30 points, one point behind seventh-place Bentley. There are two weeks left in the regular season. The top six get a bye, while No. 7 hosts No. 10 and No. 8 hosts No. 9 in the first round. In the quarterfinals, the top four teams host the bottom four remaining teams. The AHA Final Four is March 18-19 in Utica, N.Y.

Friday vs. Saturday: Early in the season, Air Force was winning on Fridays and struggling on Saturdays. At one point, Air Force was 5-2-0 on Friday and 0-6-1 on Saturday. In the second half of the season, the script has flipped. Air Force is 2-4-0 in the last six Friday games and 4-2-0 in its last six Saturday games.

Quick Hitters
* Air Force took one point last week in a home series against Holy Cross with a 3-2 overtime loss and then a 3-2 regulation loss
* Air Force had won four straight Saturday games before the loss to Holy Cross and is now 5-2-1 in the last eight Saturday games
* Friday's loss was Air Force's first overtime loss of the season and snapped an eight-game unbeaten streak in overtime dating back to early last season
* Sophomore Will Gavin scored Air Force's first goal on Friday and assisted on both goals on Saturday to extend his point streak to nine straight games (7-8-15)
* Gavin leads the conference in goals (14) and game-winners (4).
* Freshman Clayton Cosentino had an assist in each game and extended his point streak to six straight games (2-5-7)
* Both of Cosentino's assists were primary (first) assists. He leads the conference with 14 primary assists this season
* Defenseman Brandon Koch scored his first goal of the season in game two against Holy Cross. He leads the AHA with 20 assists this season
* Koch had two points (1-1-2) on Feb. 12 vs. Holy Cross and has six points in his last five games (1-5-6).
* Sophomore Parker Brown had an assist on Friday but his five-game point streak ended on Feb. 12 vs. Holy Cross.

About Bentley: Bentley is 12-15-1 overall and in seventh place in the AHA with a 10-11-1 record. Early in the season, Bentley defeated Ohio State and Boston College. Bentley has lost four straight and is winless in their last seven, dating back to a 7-4 win over Canisius, Jan. 21. Following the win over Cansius, Bentley was tied for second in the AHA. Last weekend, Bentley was swept at Sacred Heart, 5-3 and 3-1. Sophomore defenseman Drew Bavaro leads the team with nine goals and 24 points. Graduate student Evan DeBrauwer and sophomore Nicholas Grabko have split time in goal with each starting 12 games. The pair has split the last four games, but DeBrouwer has started four of the last six. DeBrouwer has the best numbers with a 2.62 GAA and a .915 saves percentage.

Series vs. Bentley: The teams have played 59 times and Air Force holds a 35-18-6 advantage in the series that began in 1998. As Atlantic Hockey foes, the teams played 50 times since the beginning of the 2006-07 season (15 years) and Air Force holds a 29-16-5 lead. The teams played earlier this season at the Academy and split the series with Air Force winning game one (2-1) and Bentley winning game two (5-4), Nov. 12-13. Over the last 10 games, each team has won five. Five of those games have been decided by one goal with two in overtime. Last season, the teams split a regular-season series at the Bentley Ice Arena. The teams met in the first round of the playoffs and Bentley defeated Air Force, 7-3, in Waltham, Mass.

Players Mentioned

Parker Brown

Clayton Cosentino

Will Gavin

Brandon Koch

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