Bentley's Calvi at head of class

Freshman goalie is well-schooled

When Joe Calvi arrived at Bentley College, hockey coach Ryan Soderquist wasn't sure what to expect from the 21-year-old freshman. He knew the goaltender had terrific skills, but like most freshmen who come to college after playing junior hockey following high school, Soderquist figured there would be a transition period for Calvi.

It turned out to be far shorter than anyone thought. Calvi has stepped in as a major contributor. He has played in nine games and has a 4-4-1 record, a 1.75 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage. The New Lenox, Ill., native said he didn't expect to embrace the job as quickly as he did.

"It's going really well," said Calvi. "The team really backed me up quick, which is hard to do as a freshman, to get the team to support you and have confidence in you. But they did and they're playing well for me and making it easier for me to go out there and do my job."

One of the biggest challenges has been going back to the classroom. Calvi said many players take classes while playing junior hockey, which makes their workload easier in college. He now he wishes he had.

"It is really hard," he said. "I took three years off and I made a mistake in not taking classes. I'm kind of kicking myself, but they have a lot of tutors here and there are lot of people willing to help you, and they really do a good job."

Calvi said the hardest part is finding the time to do the classwork because of the demands of the season.

"It's just the workload," he said. "I had to learn in a hurry. We have three hours less per day of study time, which over the week really adds up. It's just a matter of managing your time well. If you do that, then it's really not that tough."

Soderquist said he's impressed by Calvi's commitment.

"As a freshman, he's come in and taken the No. 1 role over pretty quick," said Soderquist. "We had hoped he'd develop into it. I thought maybe by January or February he might be getting more starts than not. But it's turned out quickly that he's done very well. We're really excited about having him for four years. He plays pretty simple, he makes all the first saves and doesn't leave a lot of rebounds out there. He has a great work ethic and the guys love to play for him.

"A lot of the times with incoming freshmen at any position, the day-to-day grind of coming out of junior hockey and now having to go to class every day, practice every day, and lift [weights] a couple times a week, usually after the first month you see guys get a little bit worn and you can't play them every night. He seems to keep his life in great order and is able to take everything on. He's really focused."

The Falcons have rebounded from a slow start and have just one loss in the last five games (3-1-1). They lead Atlantic Hockey at 4-2-1 (4-6-1 overall).

"We're right on course," said Calvi. "We're still not at our peak, I don't think. A lot of the media and people are saying this is fluky for us and people don't believe it, but when you watch our practices you see the talent that our guys have. And just the attitude the coaching staff has toward winning and putting together a championship team, we're still getting better and it's exciting to think about how the rest of the season is going to turn out."

Calvi said it's difficult being in the same region as higher-profile programs such as Boston College, Boston University, and University of New Hampshire, but he hopes if the team succeeds it will receive the attention it deserves.

"It's tough, just being a smaller school," he said. "You don't get all the glory that Boston College has, but it's exciting in that in the whole league around, we're the guys who develop this league and make it just as good as Hockey East and get some NCAA bids for the league. It'll be exciting, even when we're older and not playing, we can look back at the Atlantic and it will really be a distinguished league."

Richter scale

Harvard's Kyle Richter was named ECAC goaltender of the week and Inside College Hockey national player of the week. Richter is ranked first in save percentage (.975) in the conference. The Crimson (3-1) are off to their best start since the 2002-03 season. The team leads the nation in defense, allowing just 0.75 goals per game. The Crimson are second in penalty killing (95.8 percent) and scoring margin (plus-2.75). Harvard hosts Cornell tomorrow night and Colgate Saturday . . . Suffolk is off to its best start in five years. The Rams (3-1, 1-0 ECAC Northeast) ended a 10-game winless streak (0-9-1) against Wentworth with Tuesday's 5-3 victory. It was the Rams' first win over the Leopards since Nov. 23, 1996. Junior forward Kyle Cook has six goals and six assists in four games. Suffolk is at Johnson & Wales tomorrow night . . . The UNH women's team is running away with Hockey East. The Wildcats are 7-0 in the conference and 9-2 overall heading into this weekend's two-game series with nonconference opponent Wisconsin. Coach Brian McCloskey's squad is led by junior forward Sam Faber, who has 17 points in 11 games, and sophomore forward Kelly Paton, who has 14 points. The team has scored 33 goals in league play and has allowed six. Overall, UNH has scored 39 goals and allowed 13.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com.