Air Force will close out its regular season with a two-game series against Bentley on February 27 and 28 at the Bentley Ice Arena in Waltham, Massachusetts. The games are scheduled for Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET and Saturday at 6:05 p.m. ET. Both contests will be streamed on FloHockey, while radio coverage will be available through XtraSports 1300 AM and online at xtrasports1300.com.
Air Force enters the series with a record of 15-13-4 overall and an Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) mark of 11-10-3. The Falcons are winless in their last two games, having taken one point from Army in their most recent series. Bentley comes into the matchup with an overall record of 18-9-5 and leads the AHA standings with a conference record of 16-4-4. The Falcons previously lost both games to Bentley earlier this season by scores of 5-1 and 3-1.
Head coach Frank Serratore leads Air Force in his 29th year, holding a school record of 487-470-106 and a career record of 536-562-115 over 33 years. Andy Jones is in his third year as head coach for Bentley, with a school and career record of 57-41-9.
The all-sophomore line for Air Force—Will Dawson (LW), Nick Sajevic (C), and Sam Stitz (RW)—has combined for a total of 84 points this season. Sophomores across the team have contributed significantly, totaling more than one hundred points collectively.
Defenseman Chris Hedden has scored eleven goals this season, which ranks him tied for third among defensemen nationally; his thirty points also rank second among defensemen nationwide. He has been named AHA Defenseman of the Week five times this year and is on the ballot for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.
Nick Sajevic stands second in assists within the AHA (22), is tied for fifth in total points (30), ranks fourth in faceoff wins (316), and holds fourth place in faceoff winning percentage (.562). Sam Stitz is tied for third in league scoring with thirty-one points, including twenty assists and eleven goals.
Goaltender Dominik Wasik has started twenty-seven consecutive games for Air Force, ranking seventh in the AHA both in goals-against average (2.48) and save percentage (.906).
The Falcons lead Atlantic Hockey—and rank tenth nationally—in shots per game at just over thirty-three per contest.
Currently sitting seventh place in Atlantic Hockey with thirty-five points, Air Force trails Canisius by one point for sixth place and Robert Morris/Holy Cross by four points for fourth place. If Air Force finishes fourth after this weekend’s results, they would host a quarterfinal playoff series March 6–8; finishing fifth or sixth would send them on the road; if they remain seventh, they would host a single play-in game March 3 before traveling if victorious.
Bentley recently clinched its first-ever Atlantic Hockey regular season championship following last week’s victory over RIT. Goalie Nicholas Bevilacqua leads all NCAA goalies nationally both in save percentage (.940) and goals-against average (1.54). Teammate Lukas Swedin ranks among conference leaders as well; he started both previous wins against Air Force this season.
Frank Serratore said: “We know what’s at stake going into these final games.”
