BENTLEY HOCKEY NOTEBOOK…

FALCONS OPEN ECAC N/C/S PLAYOFFS

AT A GLANCE
1997-98 Record:	16-9-0
1997-98 Conference Record:	10-4-0 (ECAC Central)
Current Streak:	Won 4

Upcoming Schedule:
3/4	UMass-Dartmouth	7:30pm

Leading Scorers:
Ryan Soderquist, So.	33-23-56
Brian Gangemi, So.	21-18-39
Scott Soffel, Sr.	18-19-37
Shawn Smith, Jr.	12-19-31
Garrett Trull, Sr.	7-16-23
John Santoro, Fr.	5-16-21
Mike Spengler, So.	12-8-20

SOPHOMORES SHINE AT SENIOR NIGHT: Last Wednesday may have been Senior Night, as the Falcons closed out the regular season home schedule, but it was the sophomores who stole the show. The sophomore class scored all the goals in the 8-2 triumph over New Hampshire College, while also dishing out three assists. Leading the way for the Falcons was center Mike Spengler (Billerica/Arlington Catholic) who scored two goals and an assist. Brian Gangemi (Tewksbury/ Browne, Buckingham, & Nichols) and Ryan Soderquist (Stoneham/Arlington Catholic) also scored twice while Martin Baker (Alta Loma, Calif./New Canaan) and Mike Hindley (Garden City, N.Y./Bethpage) each lit the lamp once. Sophomore Bob Holmes (Saugus/Tabor Academy) also contributed, dishing out two assists.

A RETURN TO THE ECAC PLAYOFFS: For the third year in a row, and fourth time in five years since Head Coach Jim McAdam has been behind the Falcons' bench, the Falcons will be heading to the ECAC playoffs. This will be the eighth trip to the ECAC's for the Falcons. Bentley, then a Division III program, won the tournament in 1979-80 and then again the following year. Overall, the Falcons are 7-5 in the post season, and 4-4 on the road.

FALCONS VS. CORSAIRS: In the head-to-head series, the UMass-Dartmouth Corsairs hold a 20-9 lead. The Falcons have had the edge in the series as of late, winning three of the last four meetings between the two. In the playoffs, the Corsairs hold a 1-0 lead, winning 7-3 in the semifinals of 1995-96.

FALCONS VS. CORSAIRS (PART 2): This season, the two teams proved there is no love-loss between the two. They have combined for 277 penalty minutes in the two games. UMass-Dartmouth came out ahead 10-4 in the first meeting, Bentley's home opener, but the Falcons came back and won 7-5 in the second game at UMass-Dartmouth. The leading scorers in this year's series for the Falcons are Ryan Soderquist (2-3-5), Scott Soffel (Oradell, N.J./Tabor Academy) (2-2-4), Brian Gangemi (2-1-3), and Shawn Smith (Everett/Everett H.S.) (1-2-3).

RECORD SHATTERING SEASON: This season saw three individual and one team record broken. Leading scorer Ryan Soderquist set the school records for goals and points in a season in the February 12, 10-3 victory over Sacred Heart. He currently has 33 goals, five more than the record set by Richard Starck in 1995-96, and 56 points, eight better than Jon Vedder's 48 in 1988-89. In that game, Head Coach Jim McAdam became the winningest coach in Bentley hockey history, winning his 70th game to break Tom Apprille's record of 69. He now has 72 wins against just 49 losses. The team also set a school record for most goals in a game, netting 18 goals on January 10 against Suffolk University. The school record had been 16 which was done on four different occasions.

MORE RECORDS TO BE BROKEN?: The Falcons still have a chance to set more records. They are within one shorthanded goal of tying last season's record 14 in a season. Ryan Soderquist is just one shorthanded goal from tying Jay Carta's record of five in a season, set last season. Brian Gangemi is just two points shy of tying Soderquist's rookie record of 41 points in a season.

SODERQUIST HITS FIFTY: Leading scorer Ryan Soderquist continues to roll this season. He enters the playoffs with a career-high fourteen-game scoring streak (21 goals and 14 assists). He is eighth on Bentley's all-time scoring list, needing just three more points to hit 100 points for his career (50 goals and 47 assists). He is just two goals shy of fifth on the career goals list. Soderquist is also fourth in NCAA Division II in points per game and fifth in the ECAC North/Central/South in scoring.

GANGEMI ON FIRE: Sophomore transfer Brian Gangemi continues to score for the Falcons. He enters the playoffs with points in his last thirteen games (12 goals and 13 assists) and has nine goals in his last seven games. Gangemi is now just two points shy of tying the school record for most points in a season by a rookie, 41 set last season by Ryan Soderquist.

FRESHMEN DISH 'EM OUT: Freshmen John Santoro (Methuen/St. John's Prep) and Marc Marandola (Newport, R.I/Kimball Union) have stepped it up a notch as of late. Santoro, the left wing on Bentley's top line has nine assists in his last seven games, including three against New Hampshire College last Wednesday. He has a four-game point scoring streak that includes a goal to go along with seven assists. Marandola, who plays primarily on the fourth line, has three assists in his last four games.

ROOKIE DEFENSEMEN: Freshmen Joe Roy (Medford/Medford HS) and Andy Cavanagh (Greenville, R.I./Smithfield) have been playing like veterans as of late. Roy has two goals and two assists in his last four games while playing at a +/- of plus-4. Cavanagh, still searching for his first career goal, has two assists in his last three games. He has been a plus-6 in his last three, including a plus-5 against New Hampshire College.

SOFFEL AND TRULL ON ALL-TIME LIST: Seniors Scott Soffel and Garrett Trull (North Wales, Pa./Avon Old Farms) continue to ascend Bentley's career scoring list. Soffel, tenth in the nation in goals per game, picked two assists to move him past Dan Ryan for 11th on the list with 85 career points (48 goals, 37 assists). He needs one more point for a tie in tenth place with Mark McEvoy, and two more to move up to a ninth place tie with Shane Borman.

Trull, the highest scoring defenseman in Falcon history, is in sole possession of fifth place with 112 points (41 goals, 71 assists). He is just one point shy of tying Dave Langley for fourth on the career scoring list, but he must wait to see if the Falcons will advance to the semifinals to tie the record. He will miss the game against the Corsairs after receiving his second game disqualification of the season against Fitchburg State.

CULLEN GETS NOD IN NET: Sophomore Joe Cullen (Wilmington/Bishop Fenwick) will get his 19th start of the season when the Falcons travel to UMass-Dartmouth. He brings in a 3.00 goals against average and a save percentage of .878 in his last three appearances. Overall he has a 4.05 GAA and a .879 save percentage. This season, Cullen has made 50+ saves twice, including a 54 save effort against Alabama-Huntsville. He has a chance of becoming the first Falcon goalie since Kris Smith in 1994-95, and just the fourth ever, to finish the season with a goals against average under four.

SENIORS ENTER FINAL PLAYOFFS: The group of five Falcon seniors (Garrett Trull, Marc Griffin (Byfield /Austin Prep), Noah French (Hamden, Conn./ Hamden HS), Scott Soffel, and Shawn Damon (Bangor, Maine/Cardigan Mt. Prep)) enter their final ECAC playoffs on Wednesday. They have become just the fourth senior class to make the playoffs in three of their four years at Bentley. In 1995-96, they were part of the first Falcon team to make the semifinals of the ECAC playoffs in 12 years. Overall, they have a 59-39-8 record at Bentley.

HOME VS. ROAD: The Falcons, who have had 16 of their 24 games played this season on the road, have been strong at home. They have a 7-1 home record, and average 8.38 goals scored a game. Their defense has let up a stingy 3.25 goals a game. The Falcons are not as successful on the road, carrying in a 9-7 record. They have averaged 5.25 goals a game, allowing 4.19 goals in the 16 games.

SHUT-OUT ON THE POWER PLAY: For the first time in 1998, the Falcons failed to score a power play goal in a game. This snaps a streak of 12 games where they netted at least one goal with the man-advantage. The power play unit had scored 19 goals on 57 chances (33%) up to the 0/3 performance against New Hampshire College.

FALCONS KILLING PENALTIES: The Falcons penalty killing units have been effective of late. They have stopped 24 of their last 28 penalty killing opportunities (85%), including shutting down New Hampshire College's power play by killing all four chances. It was the first time all season they held an opponent without a power play goal. The Falcons top penalty killers are Ryan Soderquist, Shawn Smith, Brian Gangemi, Steve Scribner (Arlington/Matignon), and Dana DiFiore (Andover/ Andover HS).

SOLID DEFENSE: Since allowing 15 goals on 107 shots during their trip to Alabama, the Falcons have been playing stingy defense. In their last four games played, the Falcons have allowed just 12 goals (3.00 a game) on just 104 shots (26 a game). The defense has been led by the solid play of freshmen Joe Roy and Andy Cavanagh, sophomore Kevin Moglia (Lebanon, N.H/Lebanon HS), and seniors Garrett Trull, Marc Griffin, and Noah French.

BENTLEY WINS WHEN: The Falcons are 9-2 when they score the first goal. When ahead after the first period they are 12-2 and an impressive 13-1 when taking a lead into the third period. When Bentley scores five or more goals, they are 14-2 and just 2-6 when they score four or less. The Falcons average eight goals a game when they win and just three goals a game in those that they lose.

HAT TRICKS: Three different Falcons have netted hat tricks for the Falcons this year. Ryan Soderquist heads the list having turned the trick three times (Potsdam State, October 31; Stonehill, December 13; and Suffolk, January 10). Other Falcons who have netted three in a game are Scott Soffel (Suffolk, December 1), Brian Gangemi (Suffolk, January 10), and Joe Diozzi (Saugus/Northfield-Mt. Hermon) (Suffolk, January 10).

FALCONS HONORED: The Falcons have received many honors for their play this season. Garrett Trull and Ryan Soderquist both received All-Tournament honors at the Potsdam Pepsi Invitational. Trull scored two goals and two assists at the tournament, while Soderquist led all Bentley players with four goals and two helpers. Trull has been named as ECAC/Bauer Central Player of the Week once (November 3), as have Soderquist (November 17) and Mike Spengler (January 12). Brian Gangemi was named as ECAC/Bauer Central Rookie of the Week on January 12 for a seven point effort, and Ray DeVincent (Waltham/St. Sebastains) received the honor, for his 27 save performance against Sacred Heart, on February 16.

BENTLEY BY DIVISIONS: The Falcons are 8-2 against Division III programs and 8-7 against Division II teams this season. The Falcons hold a 2-2 record against the teams they played that are moving to the MAAC Conference next year, a new Division I conference that begins play next year. They hold a 2-0 record against teams in the SUNYAC. The Falcons were 1-4 against nationally ranked Division II opponents.

THE PLAYOFF PICTURE: Bentley enters this year's ECAC North/Central/South playoffs as the number five seed. The seedings are as follows:

1. Fitchburg State
2. St. Michael's
3. Wentworth
4. UMass-Dartmouth
5. BENTLEY
6. New Hampshire College
7. Worcester State
8. Plymouth State

ECAC North champion hosts Plymouth State, Worcester State travel to ECAC Central winner's St. Michael's, and ECAC South champion Wentworth has home-ice advantage when they meet New Hampshire College. The semifinals will feature the highest remaining seed hosting the lowest remaining seed, and the other two battling it out at the rink of the higher ranked college. The finals will also give home-ice advantage to the highest ranked team remaining.

1997-98 Scoring:
Ryan Soderquist, So.	33	23	56
Brian Gangemi, So.	21	18	39
Scott Soffel, Sr.	18	19	37
Shawn Smith, Jr.	12	19	31
Garrett Trull, Sr.	7	16	23
John Santoro, Fr.	5	16	21
Mike Spengler, So.	12	8	20
Noah French, Sr.	4	14	18
Steve Scribner, Jr.	6	9	15
Marc Griffin, Sr.	1	14	15
Joe Roy, Fr.	2	12	14
Dana DiFiore, Jr.	4	9	13
Martin Baker, So.	6	5	11
Brook Geraghty, Fr.	5	6	11
Andy Cavanagh, Fr.	0	9	9
Shawn Damon, Sr.	5	3	8
Joe Diozzi, So.	4	3	7
Marc Marandola, Fr.	4	3	7
Kevin Moglia, So.	1	6	7
Bob Holmes, So.	0	3	3
Mike Hindley, So.	2	0	2

	1997-98 Schedule & Results
October
Fri. 31	at Potsdam State#	W, 7-4
November
Sat. 1	Cortland State#	W, 7-4
Sun. 9	at Quinnipiac	L, 6-1
Fri. 14	at Fairfield	W, 6-4
Thrs. 20	at Assumption*	W, 7-2
Sat. 22	UMass-Dartmouth*	L, 10-4
Fri. 28	at Holy Cross	L, 3-0
Sun. 30	St. Michael's*	W, 6-2
December
Mon. 1	at Suffolk*	W, 9-1
Tues. 9	at Saint Anselm*	L, 3-2
Sat. 13	at Stonehill*	W, 9-2
January
Tues. 6	Assumption*	W, 5-2
Sat. 10	Suffolk*	W, 18-2
Tues. 13	at Skidmore	W, 3-2
Sat. 17	at St. Michael's	L, 6-2
Tues. 20	at UMass-Dartmouth*	W, 7-5
Sat. 24	at New Hampshire College*	L, 7-6
Tues. 27	Tufts*	W, 6-1
Fri. 30	at Alabama Huntsville	L, 8-4
Sat. 31	at Alabama Huntsville	L, 7-2
February
Sat. 7	Stonehill*	W, 10-4
Thrs. 12	at Fitchburg State	W, 4-3
Wed. 18	at Tufts* (forfeit)	L, 1-0
Wed. 25	New Hampshire College*	W, 8-2
March
Wed. 4	at UMass Dartmouth%	7:30 p.m.
	Home Games in Bold
	*ECAC Central Games
	#Potsdam Invitational Tournament
	%ECAC N/C/S Playoffs
	Home Rink: Ryan Arena, Watertown