Bentley freshman Jeff Gumaer potted a pair of goals, fellow classmate Anthony Canzoneri had a pair of assists and Jason Kearney made a career-high 38 saves as Bentley College beat Army, 4-1, Saturday night at the John A. Ryan Skating Arena. With the win, Bentley took three points from the weekend series and improved to 5-5-2 overall and 3-1-2 in the AHA, while Army fell to 2-8-2 and 0-4-2.
Bentley scored the game’s first goal 7:30 into the first period on the power play and with a delayed penalty to be called on Army. Senior Ryan Lessnau chased the puck down in the left corner and fired a cross-ice pass to senior defenseman Brett Murphy at the left point. Murphy hit a one-time slapshot past Brad Roberts for his first goal of the season.
The Falcons doubled the lead just 58 seconds later on senior Ryan Mayhew’s first goal of the season. Senior Josh Thompson broke Bentley out on a two-on-one and slipped a pass to Mayhew, who fired a shot by Roberts near post to give Bentley a 2-0 lead.
Midway through the second period, Gumaer netted his first of the night on the power play to put the Falcons up, 3-0. With the puck loose in front of the net, Gumaer reached out and poked it past the sprawling Roberts for his second goal of the season.
Army clawed a goal back less than a minute later on the power play to close the gap to two goals with plenty of time remaining. Freshman defenseman Tim Manthey’s shot from the slot was saved by Kearney, but senior forward Seth Beamer collected the rebound and directed a backhanded shot across the frame and inside the far post to put Army on the board.
For the second consecutive night, Army controlled much of the play during the third period; however it was Bentley that would find a third period goal on this occasion. Sophomore Joe Cucci fired a slapshot from the left point following a face-off and Gumaer redirected Cucci’s effort past Roberts for his second goal of the night.
Army continued to press, but Kearney was impressive in goal, making 14 third-period saves to keep the Black Knights from finding a way back into the game. The win was the second of Kearney’s career, while Roberts made 25 saves in goal for Army.
