St. Bonaventure University

Mike Cosentino is confident his Bonnies can do well this weekend at the American Collegiate Hockey Association Northeast Regional Tournament.

But after watching Canada nearly stumble Wednesday to Czechia in what would have been one of the great upsets in Olympic history, he knows that overconfidence is unacceptable.

St. Bonaventure (21-4-1), ranked No. 3 in the ACHA regional tournament, squares off with No. 14 Sacred Heart (12-8-3) in the first round at 10 a.m. Saturday in Simsbury, Connecticut. The game will be streamed here (subscription required).

“If you can get to this regional level, you’re a good team so there is no way we will take Sacred Heart lightly,” said Cosentino, St. Bonaventure’s first-year head coach. “They have some really skilled players and solid goaltending.”

Winners of the eight regional games Saturday will be reseeded and square off on Sunday. The four remaining teams in each of the regionals — Northeast, Central, Southeast and West — will advance to the ACHA Division II National Tournament March 12-17 in St. Louis.

The Bonnies are coming off a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over Niagara in the Upstate New York Collegiate Hockey League title game Feb. 12 to earn the automatic bid to regionals. Niagara (24-2) earned an at-large bid despite the loss and is the top-ranked team in the region.

Cosentino is counting on the Bonnies’ overall team speed and depth to carry them to the national tournament.

“Our speed is our strength and is hopefully too much for them handle,” he said. “But in the end, these games when you get this far really come down to who’s the most disciplined.”

The Bonnies have relied on very special special teams to get them this far.

“Our penalty kill has been fantastic, well over 85%, and our power play has been a massive weapon for us,” Cosentino said. “We’re converting over 45% of the time, which is a remarkable rate.”

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #8 for value and #19 overall by U.S. News and World Report (2025).