Photo Credit: Army Athletics

Army used their bye to work on themselves like every team does. During that time the staff watched videos, and learned more about their young group. Head Coach Brian Riley said of his team , “ they are trying to learn how to win and until you’re in a close game like this on the winning side you don’t have anything to draw on.”

As a group, Riley said, “we weren’t very hard to play against and weren’t very stingy on defense.” Those were the most immediate changes that payed dividends.

On goalie Justin Evenson “he’s a kid that hasn’t got the opportunity but comes and works every day.” Riley thought that Evenson handeled himself well and rebounded nicely. He stood tall in the third and made 14 saves to finish the game and earn the win.

Riley thought despite the high shot totals Bentley put up, his group played well in the third period. “This group is learning how to win and we have to learn how to manage a game.”

The only goal not on an empty net came from defender Anthony Firriolo. “A big key on that goal was the job that Jon Keranen did net front.” That goal proved to be the deal for the evening.

To put the game away, Ricky Lyle out skated everyone to a Firriolo shot and tapped the puck into an empty net. Lyle worked harder than his competitors and he was rewarded with the empty net goal to wrap up the win.

For the finale, Riley said that “we know it’s going to be a hard game, we haven’t been in a situation where we have won a league game on a Friday and now we have the opportunity to do something here on a Saturday. Hopefully we will take a step (forward).”

On the impact of tonight, Riley finished with: “We still have a ways to go, you don’t just fix it with one game. Hopefully it’s something that… we took a step tonight.”

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