NEWS

The Niagara University ACHA Purple Eagles would split the weekend with conference foes Syracuse University and SUNY Cortland.

Shutout Against Syracuse

The Purple Eagles would drop a 2-0 decision to the Syracuse Orangemen on Friday, January 22nd. Both teams would trade chances early on in the game but neither team would budge as the goaltending for each team would be perfect in the opening stanza. Niagara’s best chance would come off a Matt Bavaro breakaway that would ring off the post and go off the back of the goal but trickle wide of the net.  Mike Parda would stop 14 Syracuse shots and Jaime Ketchabaw would stop 15 Niagara shots. The Purple Eagles would fail to capitalize on their only power play chance in the first period and it would continue to struggle throughout the game going 0 for 3.

Syracuse would break the deadlock just over six minutes into the second period with Benjamin King beating Mike Parda on a well-placed shot. Matt DiVietro would pick up the lone assist on the goal. The Purple Eagles would try to respond, but Ketchabaw proved once again to be unbeatable making 11 stops in the second period. Syracuse would also fail to capitalize on the man advantage in the period and the game going 0 for 2 on the night. Mike Parda would deny 11 Syracuse shots in the second period.

The Purple Eagles would be caught flatfooted starting the third period and Syracuse would jump out to a 2-0 lead off a Nolan Metzler goal. Despite starting slow, Niagara would begin to find their legs but it just wouldn’t be enough despite outshooting Syracuse 12-6 in the period. Jamie Ketchabaw would make 38 saves in the shutout victory for the Orangemen. Goalie Mike Parda would make 30 saves on 32 shots in the loss.

Rebounding Against Cortland

The Purple Eagles would take back to the ice on Saturday, January 23rd to face SUNY Cortland in what would be a very physical affair.

Niagara would begin this game on a positive note by getting the first goal of the game eight minutes into the first period. Josh Pietrantonio would find the loose puck in the crease and put it past Elliott Messmer to give Niagara the 1-0 lead. Dalton Bew would have the lone helper on the goal. The Purple Eagles would strike on the power play just before the end of the period as Nick Smith would find of the back of the net with help from Patrick Gregory. The Purple Eagles power play would be rather effective going 3 for 7 on the man advantage throughout the night. Cortland would fail to capitalize on the man advantage in the first period and would finish the night 1 for 8. The Purple Eagles would take a 14-7 edge in shots into the second period.

Cortland would open the scoring in the second period on the power play with Nathan Woznak beating Mike Parda after some good puck movement from Daniel Nelson and Andrew Bourdeau. Two minutes later with Tate Cretti in the box, Daniel Nelson would score a shorthanded goal to tie the game up at 2 with Nathan Woznak getting his second point of the night. Dalton Bew would put the Purple Eagles back up from on the man advantage with Josh Pietrantonio picking up the lone assist on the goal. Niagara’s lead would be short lived as Andrew Bourdeau would knot the game up at 3 with Nathan Woznak getting his third point of the night on an assist. Jack Travers would also be credited with an assist. Cortland would outwork the Purple Eagles in the second period and it not only showed in the scoring department but also in shots as Cortland would outshoot Niagara 12-7 in the period.

The third period featured a plethora of penalties as both teams would combine for 30 penalty minutes combined. One power play would go in favor of Niagara as Dalton Bew would put the Purple Eagles up 4-3 on the power play with Josh Pietrantonio and Andrew Mitch getting assists on the play. Unfortunately the lead would be short lived as Cortland would tie the game up just 13 seconds later with Michael Gioia beating Mike Parda. Despite firing 23 shots on Messmer only one would get past him and this game would need extra time in which neither team would score. Cortland would generate 5 shots during the extra stanza, while Niagara would fire 3 shots on net.

With the game tied following overtime this game would go to a shootout. Cortland would shoot first and Mike Parda would successfully stop Michael Gioia. Niagara’s first shooter would be Josh Pietrantonio who would beat Messmer cleanly five-hole to put the Purple Eagles up 1-0 in the shootout. Cortland’s second shooter Andrew Bourdeau would also be denied by Mike Parda. With the game on the line Dalton Bew pulled a slick move to beat Messmer and give the Purple Eagles the victory in the shootout.  Mike Parda would make 27 saves on 31 shots in the victory over the Red Dragons.

Coach’s Comments

Following the weekend games Head Coach Larry Brzeczkowski had the following to say:

“Throughout the course of both games our basic passing skills have led us to have a struggling weekend. Although our passing has struggled it is also very tough to win games when you can’t score during 5 on 5 play. It has been a tough second semester thus far as I feel that we have dominated several periods but have run into some red hot goaltenders. Additionally it is tough when our big guns have failed to find the back of the net on a consistent matter. Over the next week we will be changing lines up to see if we can re-develop chemistry heading into these final few games. With these changes on the horizon and more attention to detail in practice I would not want to be a team that will be playing us down the final stretch of the season. Once we get our passing back to elite status and our go to guys break out of their funks, I feel that we can roll over any team.”

The Purple Eagles will take back to the ice to battle Canisius College at Buffalo State Ice Arena on Thursday, January 28th with a 6:30PM warm-up.