The road was a rough one for Bentley at the start of the season. After winning their opener, the Falcons sputtered during a six-game losing streak away from home.
But instead of getting down, the team kept battling, believing it was not being rewarded for its efforts.
That attitude changed the course of Bentley’s season. The Falcons are 6-1-1 in their last eight games and unbeaten in the last six (5-0-1) heading into their first-ever meeting with Boston University at Agganis Arena Saturday night, prior to entering the semester break.
One reason the team is flying high is senior goaltender Branden Komm, who has a 7-6-1 record, 2.53 goals-against average, and .924 save percentage. Komm has 35 career victories, tied with Barratt Davison for the most in Bentley’s Division 1 history.
“[Komm] has been our best player on the ice the past couple of weeks,’’ said senior right wing Brett Gensler, Bentley’s career Division 1 scoring leader with 129 points. “He has been phenomenal. Any time we get in the [defensive] zone and we’re struggling, we know he’s going to bail us out with a huge save. We definitely wouldn’t be where we are without him. He’s our rock back there. We feed off of his confidence.’’
Komm said everyone on the team has been doing a lot of the little things right, and that has made a difference.
“I just think we needed to get a couple of wins under our belt because we had confidence and we knew we were a tough team to play against,’’ said Komm. “We started expecting to win each and every game and it’s been working well for us ever since. We’re very confident, we’re hungry to play and I think it’s going to be a really good game on Saturday.’’
Gensler (5-10—15), center Alex Grieve (12-8—20), and left wing Brett Switzer (5-4—9) have combined for 44 points.
“We kind of have a sense of how each other plays the game,’’ said Gensler, who has played with his linemates since his sophomore year. “It’s really something that’s important between linemates. We always know where each other is going to be. Being able to read and react to how your linemates are playing is nice and those guys do that great.’’
Gensler said there has been a change in the locker room over the last couple of weeks.
“The mood of the locker room changes when you start kind of getting on these runs,’’ he said. “Everyone is really excited and ready to go every day. We kind of did have a rough patch at the beginning where we thought we were playing really well and just weren’t getting some bounces and now things are going our way and it does make everyone feel better.’’
Coach Ryan Soderquist, in his 12th year behind the bench, said this is a very special group of players.
“Overall confidence within the locker room and a team mentality and attitude has brought everybody to another level,’’ said Soderquist. “Specifically right now, being halfway through the year, I’d rate this as our top mentality. The mentality and the attitude day to day has been phenomenal, nothing like I’ve seen before.’’
Bentley aspires to become the latest Atlantic Hockey team to knock off a Hockey East team, following Mercyhurst, which edged Merrimack; Sacred Heart, which beat UMass-Lowell; and Holy Cross, which held off Boston College.
“I think it’s great for college hockey,’’ said Soderquist. “It’s certainly great for our league. For the whole Boston area to realize there are other Division 1 programs out there that can be successful has been great. I think it shows there are other opportunities for kids to go to school with some other great hockey programs, not just BC or BU. I certainly think the parity amongst Division 1 ice hockey is completely different than it was eight or 10 years ago where you can now see any program win on any given night.’’
If the Falcons beat the Terriers it will be an impressive feat, but not an unexpected one according to Bentley’s players.
“We don’t see ourselves as [a squad] who is going to go in and have to upset a team,’’ said Gensler. “We think we can beat these guys on any night and we go into the game expecting to win. So it’s not going to be a surprise to us if we win. We go into these games knowing we can win.’’
Minutemen find way
UMass (4-11-2) got back on track last Saturday night by winning at Notre Dame, 3-2. The deciding goal came on the power play, which has accounted for 19 of the team’s 33 goals (57.6 percent). The victory was the Minutemen’s first since a 2-1 decision over Maine Nov. 2, snapping an eight-game winless streak (0-7-1). UMass has three games remaining until the semester break: at Colgate Saturday and Sunday, and a home game against Denver on Tuesday . . . Maine, 7-1-0 at home, hosts American International on Friday and Saturday. The Black Bears have outscored opponents, 34-14, at Alfond Arena. Senior goaltender Martin Ouellette has a 1.74 GAA and .941 save percentage at home, with two shutouts.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @Elle1027.