BOSTON – Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) men’s teams went 4-2-1 in seven non-conference games Friday night, contests that were bookended by a banner raising at Bentley and a late-night dramatic win by Holy Cross. 

The wins at St. Thomas and Arizona State were the first for AHA teams against NCHC teams since October 2024.

SCOREBOARD
Bentley 3, Vermont 0
Bowling Green 3, Sacred Heart 2 
Notre Dame 4, Niagara 0 
RIT 2, UMass 2 OT (RIT wins SO, 2-1)
Canisius 3, Long Island 2
Air Force 5, St. Thomas 1
Holy Cross 2, Arizona State 1
Recaps available below

BENTLEY 3, VERMONT 0
Box Score | Game Highlights
Waltham, Mass. – Bentley unveiled its 2025-26 AHA championship banners and then entertained the home fans with a terrific all-around performance, beating Vermont 3-0 in the first game of the season for both teams. It marked the first win in a season opener for Bentley since 2016.

Junior James Duerr (Chicago, Ill.) scored just 7:04 into the game to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead and senior Jimmy Doyle (Plainfield, Ill.) followed with another just seven minutes later. Sophomore Owen Goodbrand (Waterdown, Ont.) added an empty-net goal in the third.

Sophomore Lukas Swedin (Stockholm, Sweden) sparkled in goal, stopping all 30 shots he faced for his third career shutout.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Vermont	0-0-0–0	30	5/21	0/3	0-1-0 (0-0-0)
Bentley	2-0-1–3	22	5/10	0/3	1-0-0 (0-0-0)

BOWLING GREEN 3, SACRED HEART 2
Box Score 
Fairfield, Conn. – Bowling Green scored its second power-play goal of the night with just 1:45 remaining to hand Sacred Heart a 3-2 loss in the opening game of the Ice Breaker Tournament.

The Falcons took a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes of the game, but Sacred Heart responded to tie the score. UMass Lowell transfer Diego Buttazzoni (Langley, B.C.) scored both goals in his first game with the Pioneers, his first collegiate two-goal game.

Bowling Green’s Brody Waters got the game-winner. Sacred Heart closes out the Ice Breaker tomorrow night, hosting Penn State.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Bowling Green	2-0-1–3	29	6/12	2/4	1-2-0 (0-0-0)
Sacred Heart	1-0-1–2	25	5/10	0/5	0-1-0 (0-0-0)

NOTRE DAME 4, NIAGARA 0
Box Score 
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame scored twice in the second period and added a pair of empty netters in the third to beat Niagara, 4-0, and earn a sweep in the teams’ Thursday-Friday series.

Both goaltenders were strong throughout, with Nicholas Kempf stopping all 26 Niagara shots to earn the shutout. Sophomore Tomas Anderson (Stillwater, Minn.) made 24 saves for the Purple Eagles.

Niagara has another non-conference road series next weekend, at Bowling Green.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Niagara	0-0-0–0	26	6/12	0/5	1-3-0 (1-1-0)
Notre Dame	0-2-2–4	28	7/14	0/6	2-0-0 (0-0-0)

RIT 2, #18/T-17 UMASS 2 OT (RIT WINS SHOOTOUT, 2-1)
Box Score | Game Highlights
Amherst, Mass. – RIT took a 2-1 lead into the final seconds, but UMass managed to score the equalizer on its 44th shot of the night with 0.5 seconds remaining. The first of the teams’ two-game series goes down as a tie, though the Tigers won the exhibition shootout, 2-1.

The Minutemen scored first before sophomore Camden Bajzer (Cleveland, Ohio) answered for RIT with his second goal of the season. Freshman Lucas Romeo (Burlington, Ont.) put RIT ahead 2-1 with his first collegiate goal.

Junior goaltender Jakub Krbecek (Prague, Czech Republic) had a career-high 48 saves for the Tigers, and the shootout win.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
RIT	1-1-0-0–2	22	5/10	0/2	1-1-1 (1-1-0)
UMass	1-0-1-0–2	50	3/6	0/4	0-2-1 (0-0-0)

CANISIUS 3, LONG ISLAND 2
Box Score | Game Highlights
East Meadow, N.Y. – Canisius improved to 2-0-1 on the season thanks to a tie-breaking power-play goal from junior defenseman Jason Gallucci (Robbinsville, N.J.) at 4:57 of the third period.

Canisius, playing the first of a stretch of 10 straight road games, opened the scoring but the teams traded four goals in the first period. The score remained 2-2 through the second period, setting up Gallucci’s game-winner.

Freshman Jack Lisson (Oakville, Ont.) – the reigning AHA Goaltender of the Week – made 33 saves to pick up his second collegiate victory.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Canisius	2-0-1–3	27	2/4	1/3	2-0-1 (0-0-0)
Long Island	2-0-0–2	35	3/6	0/2	0-1-0

AIR FORCE 5, ST. THOMAS 1
Box Score | Game Highlights
St. Paul, Minn. – Air Force scored at 5-on-5, 4-on-4 and on the power play to build a 3-0 lead, going on to win at St. Thomas, 5-1 in the season opener for both teams.

Goaltender Dominik Wasik (Superior, Colo.) made 43 saves for the visitors, including 30 through two periods as Air Force built that 3-0 lead. St. Thomas scored shorthanded early in the third but the Falcons answered with two empty netters to secure the win.

Junior Nick Sajevic (Shoreview, Minn.) led the Air Force offense with two goals, while another Minnesotan playing in his home state, Ren Morque (Grand Rapids, Minn.), added one.
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Air Force	2-1-2–5	28	6/12	1/4	1-0-0 (0-0-0)
St. Thomas	0-0-1–1	44	7/14	0/3	0-1-0 (0-0-0)

HOLY CROSS 2, ARIZONA STATE 1
Box Score 
Tempe, Ariz. – Two Holy Cross goals within 11 seconds in the final two minutes of regulation lifted the Crusaders to a 2-1 victory in the team’s road opener at Arizona State.

Sophomore Danick Leroux (Candiac, Que.), who backstopped the Crusaders to an overtime win against Maine last Saturday, stopped 39 of 40 shots in another impressive performance. When ASU’s Daniel Shlaine finally broke through with 5:02 remaining it looked like the hosts might pull out a 1-0 win.

Sophomore defenseman Quinn McCall (St. John, Ind.) tied the score for Holy Cross with 1:26 remaining, and sophomore Ben Riche (Highwood Beach, Sask.) followed with another goal just 11 seconds after the ensuing faceoff. Riche, a Quinnipiac transfer, assisted on McCall’s goal and scored his first as a Crusader.  
 

	Scoring	Shots	Pen/Min	PP	New Record (Conf.)
Holy Cross	0-0-2–2	22	3/6	0/3	2-1-0 (0-0-0)
Arizona State	0-0-1–1	40	3/6	0/3	1-2-0 (0-0-0)

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Saturday, October 10
Holy Cross at Arizona State, 3 p.m. MT
Northeastern at Bentley, 6 p.m. ET
Penn State at Sacred Heart, 7 p.m. ET (Ice Breaker Tournament)
RIT at UMass, 7:05 p.m. ET
Air Force at St. Thomas, 6:05 p.m. CT
Canisius at Long Island, 7:30 p.m. ET

Sunday, October 11
Royal Military College at Army West Point, 2 p.m. ET (Exhibition)

ABOUT ATLANTIC HOCKEY AMERICA
Atlantic Hockey America is in its third season in 2026-27 following the merger of the Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America. The conference fields nine Division I men’s teams and seven women’s teams representing 14 institutions. For more information, visit atlantichockeyamerica.com or follow the conference on X (@Atlantic_Hockey), Instagram (@atlantichockeyamerica) and Facebook (Atlantic Hockey America). Watch Atlantic Hockey America home games on FloHockey.