NEWS

The Niagara University ACHA Purple Eagles jumped out to a lead early in the game and never looked back. Austin Wharry would put Niagara on the board just four minutes into the game with some spectacular passing from Dallas Szustak and Patrick Gregory to get assists on the goal. Niagara continued to play physical and fast and they would be rewarded just five minutes later as Andrew Mitch would put the Purple Eagles up 2-0 with Josh Pietrantonio picking up his first of two assists on the night. Dalton Bew would also pick up an assist on the goal. Coming into the game, the Purple Eagles were looking forward to the return of Nick Smith and he did not disappoint as he would put the Purple Eagles up 3-0 with just under three minutes left in the opening frame. Seth Gustin would be credited with the lone assist on the goal. Niagara’s pressure on John Carroll gave the Purple Eagles a 4-0 lead just 14 seconds after Smith’s goal as Tyler Stockwell would score on a breakaway to chase Ronnie Schwartz from the crease ending his night early. Brad Beran would make a nice pass up to Stockwell to get the assist on the goal. Schwartz would end the night making 10 saves on 14 shots. The Purple Eagles played well defensively limiting any shot opportunities and keeping the majority of shots to the outside making Mike Parda’s opening stanza easier as he would stop all 10 shots he faced from John Carroll.

The Purple Eagles picked up right where they left off in the first period as Matt Bavaro would put Niagara up 5-0 with Zach Seither and Tyler Stockwell picking up assists on his goal. Niagara kept applying pressure and would be rewarded just three minutes later as Joey Sheena would put the Purple Eagles up 6-0 by burying a glorious opportunity after being set up by Stockwell who would get his second assist and third point of the game. Captain Patrick Gregory would find the back of the net to put Niagara up 7-0 as fellow captain Dallas Szustak and Austin Wharry cycled the puck exceptionally well to make Gregory’s goal all that easier. John Carroll would find the back of the next as Brad Harcourt would beat Mike Parda on his second shot of the period. Beau Rossbach would get the lone assist on the goal. Parda would take the rest of the night off following the goal making 11 saves on 12 shots and would be credited with the win. Andrew Depuy would enter the period and would be perfect the remainder of the period stopping all 7 shots he faced.

Niagara would enter the third period looking to play disciplined and smart hockey. Both teams would begin to get rather chippy and the game would get very physical after Stockwell would be hit awkwardly into the boards following a breakaway. Stockwell would be injured on the play and would not return for the remainder of the game. Both teams would have power play opportunities but each would fail to capitalize as Niagara would finish 0 for 3 on the Power Play and John Carroll would finish 0 for 1. The Purple Eagles would continue their dominance at 5 on 5 when Nick Smith would get his second goal in his first game back with assists coming from Robbie McNamara and Mike Skopinski. Following back and forth play, Dalton Bew would put Niagara up 9-0 on a beautiful snipe with assists coming from Andrew Mitch and Josh Pietrantonio. Niagara’s 10th goal would come courtesy of Captain Dallas Szustak who would score the goal unassisted. Defensively, the Purple Eagles only gave up 5 shots in the period and Andrew Depuy would stop all 5 shots. Niagara fired a total of 47 shots on goal the entire game with Matt Russell stopping 27 of the 33 shots he faced.

The Purple Eagles put together a well-rounded game and will look to carry this energy into next weekend as they will welcome Navy to Dwyer Arena in a weekend series with the first game at 7:30 on January 16th and the second game the next day at 2:30 on January 17th.