After a full 29 games, the first-round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament is set and the Niagara Purple Eagles will host the Bentley Falcons in a best-of-three series.

The Purple Eagles landed at the No. 8 seed and will welcome the No. 9 Falcons into Dwyer Ice Arena on March 4 to kick off the elimination series.

The series will be streamed live, right here on FloHockey, in addition to the other first-round matchup of No. 7 Mercyhurst vs. No. 10 Holy Cross. FloHockey will also bring the remainder of the tournament to a screen near you, where the last team standing will earn an automatic berth to the 16-team National Tournament. 

The first programs to two wins this weekend will move on to the quarterfinals and the lowest remaining seed will face four-time consecutive conference champion No. 1 American International, while the other will visit runner-up Canisius. The other two quarterfinals will see No. 3 Army West Point host No. 6 Air Force and No. 4 RIT host No. 5 Sacred Heart.

With a 10-13-3 record (11-20-3) Niagara finished the regular season with one more point than Bentley, enough to snag home ice for the best-of-three series. The Eagles hold a 6-6-2 record on home ice and return after three consecutive road games.

The Eagles hold a 2-0 record in head-to-head play this season, earning a sweep in early February, which were the Eagles’ last home ice wins. The pair of programs gave fans an eight-goal third period, where the Eagles took a 6-5 decision. In the second game, leading scorer Ryan Naumovski added two assists, giving him five assists in the series. 

Hear from Ryan Naumovski, Jason Lammers, and Shane Ott following tonight's win over Bentley!

📺: https://t.co/oaZKtxNS1N #Uncommon

— Niagara University Men's Hockey (@NiagaraMHKY) February 5, 2022

Naumovski led the Eagles offensively this season with seven goals and a team-leading 16 assists and 23 points in 34 games. Naumovski and the offense will be the difference if Niagara can take the series and get a chance at AIC or Canisius in the quarterfinals.

It seems like a tall task for the worst offense in Atlantic Hockey this season, scoring just 79 goals in 34 games. But defense hasn’t been much better, allowing a conference-worst 120 goals against and sporting a -1.06 scoring margin. 

The Falcons sat in first place in early January, but a second half record of 2-9-2-2 dragged them to a meager season record of 10-14-2-1 (12-18-2 overall).

The Falcons’ last win came on Jan. 21, a 7-4 victory over Canisius. Bentley have remained competitive, despite failing to register a win over a 0-7-2-2 stretch, but only three of those 11 games have been more than a one-goal deficit.

Hope is not lost for Bentley, though, they ended a five-game regulation losing streak with a shootout win and overtime loss in recent weeks. They’re closer to that elusive win and are likely to create trouble for the Eagles. 

Our playoff matchup is set.

We will play at Niagara in a first round, best-of-three series starting next Friday night.

This will be our first ever playoff matchup against the Purple Eagles. pic.twitter.com/CebF0U0aB0

— Bentley Hockey (@BentleyHockey) February 27, 2022

A combined goal and six points between Drew Bavaro and Matt Lombardozzi last time out saw Niagara struggle to contain the Bentley’s puck-moving defenseman. The Falcons chances will rest both on their team defense and that defense’s ability to transition up ice and keep the Eagles in their end.

The pair of predatory birds will face off this week for the best-of-three series and all of the action will be live, right here on FloHockey, in addition to the other first-round series and entirety of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament.

Have a question or a comment for Jacob Messing? You can find him on Twitter @Jacob_Messing.