The John A. Ryan Staking Rink in Watertown, Mass., is a notorious venue in Atlantic Hockey circles. The dated building in schedule for replacement by the Bentley Falcons for the 2018-19 season.
Friday, the old barn got one last laugh against the Robert Morris Colonials in a 3-1, series-opening victory for the Falcons.
After Bentley had build a 2-0 lead with a pair of power-play goals by Connor Brassard and Drew Callin, but the Colonials seemed to be building some momentum through the second period, when the game came to a grinding halt from a lengthy delay due to a pane of glass coming dislodged.
The teams got back on the ice, but the momentum was gone. In the third period, Ben Riggleman scored the game’s only even-strength tally to push the lead to three goals for Bentley. Michael Louria scored on a power-play one-timer at 5:42 of the third to close the gap, but that was as close as the Colonials came to responding.
Francis Marotte made 27 saves in the loss for the Colonials, while Aiden Pelino stopped 31 of 32 for Bentley. Dylan Lubbesmeyer made his collegiate debut in a late relief appearance.
The Friday night loss at Bentley is a familiar one for the Colonials. They’ve made five trips to “The JAR” and are 0-5 on the opening game of the two-game series. The history portends better things for the Colonials in a 4 p.m. rematch on Saturday. They are 2-1-1 in the second half of the weekend while visiting the Falcons.
