2004-05 Bentley Season Preview

October 7, 2004

The Bentley College hockey team heads into the 2004-05 season with a different attitude than last season. After the Falcons had a breakout season in 2002-03, expectations were high last season, but results were disappointing. Head Coach Ryan Soderquist understands that expectations may have been too high last season and has readjusted his goals for the upcoming season.

“We have enough talent where we feel that if we can fulfill out potential that we can finish in the top half of the league. However, I learned last season that talent is not always enough and that if we don’t fulfill our potential we can easily find ourselves in the bottom half of Atlantic Hockey again,” admitted Soderquist.

The fifteen wins that Bentley posted two-years ago was the most in the program’s history since making the jump to Division I in 1998. Last winter, in Soderquist’s second season, Bentley could only manage a 9-19-4 overall record and was 7-13-4 in Atlantic Hockey after being 13-13 in the MAAC the previous season. A slow start for the Falcons saw them at 1-9-2 after the first twelve games, but things turned around and Bentley played around five hundred for the remainder of the regular season (8-9-2).

The Falcons were young last year with only three seniors on the roster and the top five scorers on the team were either sophomores or freshmen. Inexperience playing at the collegiate level tended to be an achilles heel.

“We have to play sixty minutes this year. We had lapses last season and would give up two or three goals in five minutes and we dug ourselves huge holes. The guys have to stay focused and play the whole sixty minutes if we are going to succeed this year,” says Soderquist.

Forwards

The Falcons return their big guns at the top this season, with the exception of last year’s captain Joe Lovell who graduated in May. The trio of juniors Brendan McCartin and Paul Markarian and sophomore Carmen Posteraro will lead the Falcon attack this upcoming winter. Each of the players notched more than 20 points last season and were the only members of the squad to do so.

Markarian, the Assistant Captain last year as a sophomore, has posted back-to-back years of more than 20 points in his first two collegiate seasons. McCartin and Posteraro both had impressive debut seasons for the Falcons last winter. McCartin led the team with 26 points (14 goals, 12 assists) and Posteraro was second on the team in scoring as a freshman with 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists). McCartin and Posteraro were the only Falcons last season to score more than ten goals and Soderquist expects that the two will have a big impact up front this season.

Also returning at forward for Bentley are juniors Ryan Mayhew and Ryan Lessnau. Mayhew looks to return to the form that he displayed his freshman year when he put up 29 points (9 goals, 20 assists) and was tied for second on the team in scoring. Lessnau has been consistent his first two seasons scoring 15 points each year and looks to increase those numbers this season. Coach Soderquist believes that the Falcons will also be bolstered up front with the addition of freshmen Anthony Pellarin and Matt Tyree.

Defense

The defense remains almost completely intact from a year ago with Rob DeLong the lone departure through graduation. Coach Soderquist believes that they seem to be in good shape heading into the preseason.

“We are returning our top four defensemen from last season and have added three freshmen to fill in the other slots, we should be fine,” says Soderquist.

The four returnees that Soderquist refers to are senior Seth Vinocur, juniors Brett Murphy and Josh Chase, and sophomore Kyle Larman. Vinocur had an impact both defending and going forward last season as he led the team in assists with 15. Larman also showed that he could be a threat going forward scoring 14 points (4 goals, 10 assists) in his freshman season.

The three newcomers that will get a shot at playing time are Jay Beltzer, Joe Cucci, and Jaye Judd. Bletzer and Judd played junior hockey last season, while Cucci comes to Bentley after finishing up at Avon Old Farms last spring.

Goaltending

Simon St. Pierre returns for his senior season net for the Falcons. A three-year starter, St. Pierre posted his lowest GAA for a single season last year as a junior with 3.07 in 24 starts. The GAA is a bit deceiving because of a tough non-conference schedule. If you only count Atlantic Hockey games, St. Pierre was almost .4 of a goal better posting a 2.69 GAA in 17 games.

“Simon has three years starting experience, which will be a very big plus. He is going to be the backbone of the team this year,” says Soderquist.

St. Pierre will be backed up by junior Geordan Murphy, who appeared in nine games last season. Murphy made eight starts last season after St. Pierre picked up an injury, and Murphy filled in admirably posting a 3.26 GAA. Joining St. Pierre and Murphy this season will be freshman Bryan Wright, who was between the pipes for Tabor Academy last winter.

Schedule

The Falcons will travel to new destinations this winter as they play opponents from three different conferences outside of Atlantic Hockey. Overall, the Falcons will be away from home for twenty of their thirty-two contests in 2004-05.

Soderquist’s charges open the regular season in Northford, Connecticut at the Q-Cup for the fourth straight season and fifth of the last six. Bentley will travel down to Quinnipiac University on October 15 to play College Hockey America opponent Air Force at 4 PM.

The home opener is the following Friday (October 22, 7:30 PM) as the United States Military Academy makes the trip up from West Point to take on the Falcons at the John A. Ryan Arena.

Bentley also makes its first ever visits to Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania (Oct. 29 & 30), Bemidji State University in Minnesota (Nov. 12 & 13) and Princeton University (Jan. 25) in New Jersey this season. The Falcons will also travel up Route 3 for the second straight year to take on Hockey East member UMass-Lowell at the Tsongas Arena on Saturday, November 27 at 2 PM.