Tag: Bentley

Notre Dame adds defenseman transfer Drew Bavaro

Solid pickup for the Irish?

Notre Dame lost a lot of players on the blue line to graduation, and it needs to replenish that somehow. Some help is arriving with the addition of defenseman Drew Bavaro, who hails from Bradenton, Florida. For the past two years, he has skated for Bentley of the Atlantic Hockey Association. During the 2021-22 season, he was a First Team All-Atlantic selection who led his team with 27 points and 17 assists to bring his total for that program to 39 points over 52 games.

Before Bentley, Bavaro played junior hockey for the Wenatchee Wild for the 2019-20 season. He played 51 games that season, and 24 of his 33 points went for assists. His nine goals that season matched the number he had for his second and final season with Bentley.

The Irish’s top scoring defensemen for the past season were seniors [autotag]Spencer Stastney[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Leivermann[/autotag] with 27 points apiece. It might be tough for Bavaro to reach that immediately at a higher level, but at least he’s shown he’s capable of it.

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Notre Dame adds Minnesota defenseman transfer Ben Brinkman

Some winning experience is coming to South Bend.

Notre Dame really is making an effort to use the transfer portal to shore up its depth on the blue line. First came the news of adding defenseman Drew Bavaro from Bentley. Now, the Irish are looking within their own conference. We know this because they have announced the addition of defenseman Ben Brinkman of Minnesota, although his transfer to the Irish has been known since mid-April.

Brinkman, a native of Edina, Minnesota, has been with the Gophers for each of the past four seasons. Over 120 games in the Twin Cities, he scored 21 of his 23 points for assists. Eight of those points came as a senior. He also will bring winning experience to South Bend as this past season, he was part of the Gophers’ first Frozen Four team in eight years.

We don’t know when the Irish and Gophers will play each other next season yet, but we know Brinkman will have those games circled.

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Bentley, Shipley Earn ACC Weekly Honors

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Atlantic Coast Conference announced today that linebacker LaVonta Bentley (Linebacker of the Week) and running back Will Shipley (Rookie of the Week) have earned ACC Player of the Week honors for their performances in Clemson’s …

CLEMSON, S.C. — The Atlantic Coast Conference announced today that linebacker LaVonta Bentley (Linebacker of the Week) and running back Will Shipley (Rookie of the Week) have earned ACC Player of the Week honors for their performances in Clemson’s 14-8 win against Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Clemson has now earned a total of 545 weekly honors since 1968, including four honors this season. Linebacker James Skalski secured ACC Linebacker of the Week honors following Clemson’s season opener against Georgia and Shipley earned ACC Rookie of the Week for his performance against South Carolina State.

Bentley learned pregame that he’d be making his first career start after incumbent starter Baylon Spector reported knee inflammation in pregame warmup. Bentley responded by recording a team-high 13 tackles, including a team-high 3.0 tackles for loss and one sack. He and his teammates helped Clemson hold a third straight opponent without an offensive touchdown, Clemson’s first time doing so at any point in a season since 1990 and its first time doing so in the first three games of a season since 1950.

Shipley recorded career highs in rushing attempts (21) and rushing yards (88) and tied his career high with two rushing touchdowns. In the process, he joined Travis Etienne (three in 2017) and Deshaun Watson (two in 2014) as the only true freshmen to rush for multiple touchdowns in multiple games in the Dabo Swinney era. He also became the first Clemson true freshman with multiple rushing touchdowns in consecutive games since Etienne accomplished the feat against Florida State and The Citadel in 2017.