USAF Academy, Colo. - Bentley University had a 3-1 lead on Air Force in the second period, but Air Force scored the final two goals of the game as Bentley and Air Force skated to a 3-3 tie Friday night in the first game of a weekend Atlantic Hockey series at Cadet Ice Arena.
A second period goal by senior Justin Kemmerer (Hershey, Pa./Promfet School) gave Bentley (2-3-1, 2-1-1 AHA) a 3-1 lead 7:28 into the second period, but a goal later in the period by Air Force's (3-5-1, 3-1-1 AHA) Scott Mathis and a third period tally by freshman Kyle DeLaurell brought Air Force even.
Air Force had a couple of scoring chances in overtime, but Bentley goalie Joe Calvi (New Lenox, Ill./New England Jr. Huskies) stood tall and helped the Falcons earn a point.
After giving up a goal just 1:12 into the game to Air Force's Paul Weisgarber, Bentley came back strong with two goals and out shot Air Force 12-7 in the first period. The tying goal came at 9:50 off the stick of freshman Brett Hartung (Tallahassee, Fla./Wichita Falls Wildcats) for his first career goal.
Bentley's second goal started in its own zone. Sophomore Trent Bonnett (Butler, Pa./Mahoning Valley Phantoms) gained control of the puck near Bentley's net, and fed a beautiful long pass to junior Erik Peterson (Shorewood, Minn./Sioux Falls Stampede), who was streaking up ice for a breakaway. Peterson skated in untouched and beat Air Force goalie Andrew Volkening to give Bentley a 2-1 lead with 5:10 left in the period.
The visitors added on to their lead 7:28 into the second period. Freshman Brandon Bahnemann (Rochester, Minn./Springfield Jr. Blues) went for a wraparound to Volkening's glove side, but instead of shooting, fed a centering pass to Kemmerer who was wide open in front of the net to Volkening's stick side. After Bahnemann's pass, Volkening couldn't recover in time and Kemmerer potted his first goal of the season.
Air Force though got back to within one goal just over five minutes after Kemmerer's tally. After an Air Force power play had just expired, the Falcons still had the puck in Bentley's zone. DeLaurell had the puck near Bentley's net, but passed the puck to Mathis outside of the left faceoff circle. Mathis fired a slap shot on net that bounced off of Calvi's shoulder and into the net, cutting Bentley's lead to 3-2.
Air Force tied the game early on in the third period and just six seconds into a power play. Jacques Lamoureux won a faceoff in Bentley's zone and passed the puck to Tim Kirby, who fired slap shot that Calvi saved, but the rebound bounced free. De Laurell was right in front of the net to corral the rebound and shoot the puck past Calvi to tie the score.
These two teams will complete their weekend series Saturday night at 9:05 eastern time.
