# 2020–21 Bentley Falcons men's ice hockey season

The 2020–21 Bentley Falcons men's ice hockey season was the 44th season of play for the program, the 22nd at the Division I level, and the 18th season in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Falcons represented Bentley University and were coached by Ryan Soderquist, in his 19th season.

## Season

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Bentley's players would lose a season of play. However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.
Bentley didn't play well in the first month of the season, beginning 1–5. After a COVID-19-extended break, the Falcons returned to the ice in late January and won consecutive games. Their good play didn't last, however, and the team followed the mini-resurgence with five straight losses. Despite a poor record, Bentley was the host to start the Atlantic Hockey Tournament. The Falcons played Air Force and won decisively, 7–3. As the team was preparing to take on top seed American International, Bentley University began to see a surge in positive COVID cases. Due the school's protocols, Bentley withdrew from the remainder of the tournament on March 11 and ended their season.

## Departures

| Player | Position | Nationality | Cause |
| Connor Brassard | Forward | United States | Graduation |
| Jonathan Desbiens | Defenseman | Canada | Graduation |
| Carter Dwyer | Forward | United States | Transferred to Hamilton |
| Ryner Gorowsky | Forward | United States | Graduation |
| Jake Kauppila | Forward | United States | Graduation |
| Sam Kauppila | Forward | United States | Left program |
| Brett Orr | Forward | United States | Graduation |
| Aidan Pelino | Goaltender | Canada | Graduation (Signed with RoKi) |
| Matt Riggleman | Forward | United States | Graduation |

## Recruiting

| Player | Position | Nationality | Age | Notes |
| Drew Bavaro | Defenseman | United States | 20 | Sarasota, FL |
| Matt Clark | Defenseman | United States | 21 | Jamison, PA |
| Christian Felton | Defenseman | United States | 20 | Medina, OH |
| Nicholas Grabko | Goaltender | United States | 20 | Channahon, IL |
| Ethan Harrison | Forward | United States | 19 | Plano, TX |
| Cole Kodsi | Forward | United States | 20 | Boca Raton, FL |
| Zach Pellegrino | Forward | United States | 20 | Madison, CT |
| Devon Tongue | Forward | United States | 20 | Hampden, MA |
| A. J. Villella | Defenseman | United States | 22 | Davie, FL; transfer from Northeastern |

## Roster

As of October 14, 2020.

## Standings

2020–21 Atlantic Hockey Standingsvte :
| | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Conference record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record | Overall record |
| | GP | W | L | T | OW | OL | SW | PTS | PT% | GF | GA | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA |
| #15 American International †* | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32 | .889 | 47 | 18 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 67 | 40 |
| Army | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 30 | .667 | 42 | 33 | 22 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 71 | 48 |
| Robert Morris | 15 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 29 | .644 | 58 | 48 | 24 | 15 | 9 | 0 | 85 | 69 |
| Canisius | 13 | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 24 | .615 | 42 | 34 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 0 | 59 | 46 |
| RIT | 13 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 23 | .590 | 43 | 40 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 2 | 68 | 70 |
| Sacred Heart | 13 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 20 | .513 | 35 | 38 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 43 | 59 |
| Mercyhurst | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 23 | .479 | 54 | 50 | 21 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 64 | 67 |
| Bentley | 15 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 16 | .356 | 35 | 48 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 42 | 51 |
| Niagara | 15 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 15 | .333 | 39 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 57 | 70 |
| Air Force | 13 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | .231 | 32 | 49 | 14 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 35 | 56 |
| Holy Cross | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | .194 | 22 | 38 | 16 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 30 | 52 |
| Championship: March 20, 2021 † indicates conference regular season champion * indicates conference tournament champion (Riley Trophy) Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll |||||||||||||||||||

## Schedule and Results

| Date | Time | Opponent$^#$ | Site | Decision | Result | Attendance | Record |
| Regular Season ||||||||||
| December 1 | 6:30 PM | vs. Holy Cross | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Grabko | L 1–2 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 0–1–0 (0–1–0) |
| December 4 | 5:05 PM | vs. Army | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Grabko | W 4–2 | 0 | 1–1–0 (1–1–0) |
| December 5 | 6:20 PM | at Army | Tate Rink • West Point, New York | Grabko | L 0–2 | 100 | 1–2–0 (1–2–0) |
| December 9 | 6:00 PM | at Holy Cross | Hart Center • Worcester, Massachusetts | Grabko | L 3–4 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 1–3–0 (1–3–0) |
| December 18 | 5:05 PM | vs. American International | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Grabko | L 1–4 | 0 | 1–4–0 (1–4–0) |
| December 19 | 1:05 PM | at American International | MassMutual Center • Springfield, Massachusetts | Kirk | L 1–3 | 0 | 1–5–0 (1–5–0) |
| January 26 | 5:05 PM | vs. Holy Cross | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Grabko | W 5–2 | 0 | 2–5–0 (2–5–0) |
| January 31 | 5:05 PM | vs. Air Force | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Grabko | W 6–3 | 0 | 3–5–0 (3–5–0) |
| January 1 | 3:05 PM | vs. Air Force | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Kirk | L 3–4 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 3–6–0 (3–6–0) |
| February 4 | 5:05 PM | vs. Sacred Heart | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Grabko | L 0–4 | 0 | 3–7–0 (3–7–0) |
| February 5 | 5:05 PM | at Sacred Heart | Webster Bank Arena • Bridgeport, Connecticut | Grabko | L 2–4 | 0 | 3–8–0 (3–8–0) |
| February 12 | 5:00 PM | vs. Army | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts | Grabko | L 2–3 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 3–9–0 (3–9–0) |
| February 13 | 7:05 PM | at Army | Tate Rink • West Point, New York | Kirk | L 1–5 | 100 | 3–10–0 (3–10–0) |
| February 16 | 5:05 PM | at Sacred Heart | Webster Bank Arena • Bridgeport, Connecticut | Grabko | W 5–4 $^{OT}$ | 0 | 4–10–0 (4–10–0) |
| February 20 | 7:05 PM | at Army | Tate Rink • West Point, New York | Grande | L 1–2 $^{OT}$ | 100 | 4–11–0 (4–11–0) |
| Atlantic Hockey Tournament ||||||||||
| March 9 | 3:05 PM | vs. Air Force* | Bentley Arena • Waltham, Massachusetts (First Round) | Grabko | W 7–3 | 0 | 5–11–0 |
| Withdrew from Tournament ||||||||||
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||||||

## Scoring statistics

| Name | Position | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | PIM |
| Jakov Novak | LW/C | 15 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 36 |
| Luke Santerno | F | 15 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 34 |
| Matt Gosiewski | C | 16 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 2 |
| Drew Bavaro | D | 16 | 2 | 10 | 12 | 8 |
| Michael Zuffante | F | 15 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 8 |
| Brendan Hamblet | F | 15 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 6 |
| Brendan Walkom | F | 13 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
| Luke Orysiuk | D | 16 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 12 |
| A. J. Villella | D | 15 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Dylan Pitera | F | 16 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Joe Winkelmann | C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Matt Clark | D | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Charlie Marchand | D | 12 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 21 |
| Cole Kodsi | LW | 16 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Will Schlagenhauf | F | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Will Garin | RW | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Ethan Roswell | D | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Marcus Walter | D | 11 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Matt Lombardozzi | D | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 23 |
| Lucas Vanroboys | F | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 37 |
| Ethan Harrison | F | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Hunter Toale | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Jason Grande | G | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fraser Kirk | G | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zach Pellegrino | F | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Devan Tongue | D | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Nicholas Grabko | G | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Christian Felton | D | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Bench | – | – | – | – | – | 4 |
| Total | | | 42 | 77 | 119 | 266 |

## Goaltending statistics

| Name | Games | Minutes | Wins | Losses | Ties | Goals Against | Saves | Shut Outs | SV % | GAA |
| Jason Grande | 2 | 81 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 48 | 0 | .941 | 2.21 |
| Nicholas Grabko | 12 | 694 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 33 | 279 | 0 | .894 | 2.85 |
| Fraser Kirk | 4 | 191 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 94 | 0 | .904 | 3.14 |
| Empty Net | - | 5 | - | - | - | 5 | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 16 | 971 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 51 | 421 | 0 | .892 | 3.15 |

## Rankings

| Poll | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 (Final) |
| USCHO.com | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | - | NR |
| USA Today | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |
USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.

## Awards and honors

| Player | Award |
| Jakov Novak | Atlantic Hockey Regular Season Scoring Trophy |
| Nick Grabko | Atlantic Hockey Rookie Team |
| Drew Bavaro | Atlantic Hockey Rookie Team |