Air Force hosts Bentley (rv) in AHA Series, Jan. 9-10

THE GAMES
Game 1: vs. Bentley, Friday, Jan. 9, 7:05 pm MT, Cadet Ice Arena
Game 2: vs. Bentley, Saturday, Jan. 10, 5:05 pm MT, Cadet Ice Arena

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television: None
Stream:           Both on FloHockey
Radio: XtraSports 1300 AM / xtrasports1300.com;
Live Stats:       StatBroadcast

THE BREAKDOWN
Quick Facts:   Air Force   Bentley
Record:              10-8-2, 6-5-1 AHA 10-6-2, 9-1-2 AHA
Streak:                L 1 Unbeaten in 3
Last Series: Split at Desert Classic 5 points from Holy Cross

THE COACHES
Head Coach:                 Frank Serratore Andy Jones
School Record:             482-465-104 (29th yr)               49-38-4 (3rd yr)
Career Record:             531-557-113 (33rd yr)               49-38-4 (3rd yr)

THE SERIES
Overall: AF leads 41-23-7
Last Meeting: Bentley took three of four last season; Teams split at USAFA
Streak:                AF W 1

One Timers
* AF is 9-4-1 in the last 14 games (since Oct. 31) after a 1-4-1 start following the RIT series (Oct. 24-25)
* Including the Bentley series, Jan. 9-10, Air Force will play four straight games against teams receiving votes in the national polls (Michigan Tech and Arizona State).
* AF and Bentley meet for the 72nd and 73rd times. In the last 10 games, each team has won five.
* Air Force's top line of all sophomores, LW Will Dawson, C Nick Sajevic and RW Sam Stitz has been on the ice for 22 of the team's 46 even-strength goals this season.
* Air Force is ... 9-2-1 when scoring three or more goals; 7-2-2 when scoring first; 7-1-1 when tied or leading after the first period; 9-3-2 when tied or win special teams
* AF defensemen have scored 17 of the last 43 goals over the last 11 games
* Air Force had nine wins before the holiday break. Last season, Air Force also won nine before the break, tying as the most since the 2008-09 team won 14.
* Air Force's 66 goals this season in 20 games have come from 18 different players. Twenty-two of the 24 skaters who have played this season have at least one point. Over the last eight games, the top line has 31 points (10-21-31), the second line has 16 points (8-8-16), the third line has 16 points (6-10-16) and the top six defensemen have 36 points (11-25-36).
* Hedden's 10 goals and 21 points this season are the second most by a defenseman in the nation.
* Nick Sajevic has a point in seven of the last eight games. His seven-game point streak that ended on Jan. 3 was tied as the longest in the nation at the time. He leads the AHA in assists (19) and points (23). He is tied for fourth in the nation in assists and 16th in points.
* Sajevic is third in the AHA in faceoff winning percentage (.576) and wins (200) He is 22nd in the nation in wins and 12th in percentage (among those with more than 300 draws).
* Dominik Wasik has started the last 15 games. He is sixth in the AHA in GAA (2.49) and saves percentage (912), both top 30 in the nation.
* Air Force leads the AHA in blocked shots per game (15.3) and is second in scoring offense (3.30) and shots per game (30.80).

Scouting Bentley
Bentley is in first place in Atlantic Hockey with 30 points and a 9-1-2 record in conference play. Bentley is 10-6-2 overall and receiving votes in the USCHO.com national poll. Last week, Bentley squared off against second-place Holy Cross in a home-and-home series and took five of the six points. The teams skated to a 2-2 overtime tie in game one at Bentley with the Falcons winning the shootout. In the second game at Holy Cross, Bentley won 8-3. Stephen Castagna leads the team with eight goals and 16 points. Three different goalies have started for Bentley. Freshman Lukas Swedin leads the team with nine starts and started both games against Holy Cross. He has a 1.98 GAA and a .922 saves percentage.

Series vs. Bentley
Air Force and Bentley have played 71 times and Air Force holds a 41-23-7 advantage in the series that began in 1998. As Atlantic Hockey foes, the teams played 62 times since the beginning of the 2006-07 season (19 years) and Air Force holds a 35-21-6 lead. Last season, Bentley took three of the four games. Bentley swept Air Force by identical scores of 2-0 in Waltham. At the Academy, the teams split with Air Force winning the final game, 4-1. In the last 10 games since 2022, each team has won five games.
Air Force is 21-10-4 against Bentley all-time at Cadet Ice Arena.

Air Force hosts Bentley (rv) in AHA Series, Jan. 9-10

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Players Mentioned

Will Dawson

Nick Sajevic

Sam Stitz

Dominik Wasik

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