Army Hockey’s Comeback Comes Up Just Short in 3-2 Loss to Bentley

West Point, N.Y. — Sunday afternoon at Tate Rink, Army Hockey was looking to secure its first sweep of the season under head coach Zach McKelvie. Instead, they fell short of that accomplishment as the Black Knight could not complete a third-period comeback for a second consecutive game against the Bentley Falcons.

On Friday night up in Waltham, Massachusetts, the Black Knights were able to steal an extra point away from the Falcons with a 4-3 shootout win. But down in West Point, it was a completely different game.

In what felt like a very low danger scoring game, Bentley was able to get out to a 2-0 lead in front of their freshman goaltender, Lukas Swedin, and they never looked back. Army was able to claw back, with two breakaway goals from Nik Hong, and gave Bentley a scare with just under two minutes to play, but the Falcons were able to get out of dodge with all three points.

The loss drops Army to 3-3-3 overall and 1-3-2 (6 points) in Atlantic Hockey play, while Bentley improves to 5-3-1 overall and 5-0-1 (16 points) in this early 2025-2026 hockey season.

Bentley Capitalized on Their Minimal Chances

There wasn’t much that happened in the first 20 minutes of play, but Bentley was able to take a 1-0 lead heading into the intermission.

Bentley was handed a 5-on-3 power play after both Jude Brower and Owen Nolan were sent to the box within a minute of each other. On the penalty kill, Army did a great job all game of keeping the danger outside the circles, helping to keep the team in this game until the end.

The Black Knights were able to kill the first power play, but Bentley scored a goal just seconds after Brower exited the penalty box to make it 1-0. Bentley junior Chase Davis saw his shot from the left circle sneak through JJ Cataldo’s arm just enough to cross the goal line and give the Falcons the lead.

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In the second period, Bentley was able to make it 2-0 almost halfway through the game. The first goal beat JJ Cataldo short side from the left circle, and once again from that left circle, Bentley beat Cataldo short side. This time, it was sophomore Oskar Bakkevig who was able to pick the top left corner over the right shoulder of Cataldo to double the Falcons’ lead.

Nik Hong Gets Army on the Board

Army would answer with a goal of their own just 19 seconds later, off the stick of junior Nik Hong. Freshman Bill Batten made an excellent play along the wall to help break out of their defensive zone. It was easy work from there, as Hong and sophomore Adam Marshall started a 2-on-1 before Marshall sprang Hong on a partial breakaway.

One-on-one with the Bentley freshman goaltender, Hong faked backhand and was able to get Lukas Swedin to bite, and roofed his shot to get Army within one with 30 minutes to play.

“Billy [Batten] made a heck of a play in our end to break out. Marsh made another great pass, and I was lucky enough to just put it in,” said Hong. “Playing with those guys has been great. They just see the ice really well.”

Despite the goal, Army struggled to get pucks on net, with just 12 on goal in the first 40 minutes. The plan was to make Lukas Swedin work in and around his net, but that plan never materialized for Army.

“That’s definitely something we kind of emphasized before the game was getting volume on this guy,” Hong told reporters after the game. “I’m a little disappointed. I think they’re a great shot-blocking team. You know, they get in lanes, but definitely something that we gotta work on.”

Failed Third Period Comeback

Unfortunately for Army, even before they were able to get any consistent pressure in the third, Bentley regained their two-goal lead three minutes in.

Bentley’s top freshman to begin the season, Owen Goodbrand, intercepted a puck along the right boards in the Army zone and with just one motion to the middle of the ice, Goodbrand beat JJ Cataldo past his glove with a nasty wrist shot short side for his fourth goal of the season.

The only offense Army was able to generate all game were breakaways, and Adam Marshall had his shot one-on-one with Lukas Swedin. Unlike Hong, Marshall made a move and tried to beat the freshman low, but Swedin had that covered, standing just outside of the blue paint.

That wouldn’t be the last breakaway for the Black Knights. Stepping out of the penalty box, after his teammates killed a Bentley power play, Nik Hong was all alone with Swedin for the second time in the game.

Following the script of his first goal, Hong pulled off the same move, getting Swedin to bite and beating the freshman high to get the Black Knights back to 3-2. “Wally [Barron Woodring] just kind of saw me coming out of the box, and another breakaway, kind of got lucky. So it was good.”

With just 1:44 left on the clock, Army still had one last shot at forcing overtime.

With one last push and JJ Cataldo pulled, Army had one last look at the goal to try and salvage a point. Jude Brower was left free at the blue line and had a free shot at the net coming down into the high slot, but credit to Bentley, a Falcon defender threw his body into the path of Brower’s shot.

From there, Army had one last offensive zone faceoff, which they won, but for the 14th time in the game, Bentley was able to get a body part on the shot. As the puck died harmlessly in the corner, the clock at Tate Rink hit triple zeros and Bentley rushed goaltender Lukas Swedin as they secured a hard-fought series split with the Black Knights.

Looking Ahead to Next Weekend

Army (3-3-3, 1-3-2 AHA) is back in action next weekend when they take a trip up to Niagara Falls to take on the Niagara University Purple Eagles (3-6, 0-4 AHA)

This will be the two teams’ first matchup since Army knocked Niagara out of the AHA tournament last season, up in Niagara Falls, sending the Purple Eagles home with two overtime victories.

After getting off to a 3-0 start, which included a sweep of Bowling Green, Niagara has dropped six straight games to Union, Robert Morris, and Holy Cross. If Army was looking for any time to get their first sweep of the season, this weekend will be their best opportunity, but Niagara won’t make it easy as they try to avenge their playoff loss at Dwyer Arena.

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Game Summary

Final Score: Army West Point 2, Bentley 3
Date: November 9th, 2025
Venue: Tate Rink, West Point, N.Y.
Attendance: 2,086
Officials: Referees: Matthew Terreri & Ronaldo Morello; Linesmen: Dylan Lewis & Joseph Gladnick

Scoring Summary

First Period

• 15:49 — Bentley: Chase Davis (Arlo Merritt & Ryan Upson) PP — 1-0 Bentley

Second Period

• 8:45 — Bentley: Oskar Bakkevig (Jack Dalton & Stephen Castagna) EV — 2-0 Bentley
• 9:04 — Army: Nik Hong (Adam Marshell & Sam Groebner) EV — 2-1 Bentley

Third Period

• 15:49 — Bentley: Owen Goodbrand (Ryan Upson) EV — 3-1 Bentley
• 15:49 — Bentley: Nik Hong (Barron Woodring & Easton Zueger) EV — 3-2 Bentley

Team Stats

Goaltending

Bentley

• Lukas Swedin (W): 20 Saves on 22 Shots (.909 SV%)

Army Black Knights

• JJ Cataldo (L): 20 Saves on 23 Shots (.869 SV%)

Goal Scorers For Army

• Nik Hong x2 (2nd & 3rd of the season)

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