NEWS

The Niagara University ACHA Purple Eagles will continue their final road trip of the regular season this weekend with matchups against University at Buffalo and SUNY Oswego. The Purple Eagles will face the UB Bulls (6-1 NECHL) on Friday, February 5th at 7:30PM at the Northtown Center in Amherst, NY. They will then head off to Oswego State (2-4 NECHL) to face the Lakers on Sunday, February 7th at 2:00PM at the Campus Ice Center.

Scouting the Bulls
UB is coming off of a 2-1 shootout victory over Syracuse University on Friday, January 29th. Syracuse would get on the board first with John Ross LaPointe finding the back of the net 14:25 into the first period. Willam Franzese would pick up the lone assist on the goal. UB would not let Syracuse hold the lead very long as Richard Ledyard would beat Jaime Ketchabaw to knot the game up at one at 18:20 of the first period. Those two goals would account for the only scoring in regulation. Although UB would have the edge 31-25 in shots, neither goalie would budge until the shootout. Both teams were perfect on the penalty kill with Syracuse killing off five penalties, while UB killed off three.

In the shootout, John Ross LaPointe would first shoot for Syracuse and he would beat Tyler Start to put the Orangemen ahead in the contest. The lead would not last long as Eric Nestler would tie the shootout up at one a piece. Tom DiPasquale would be denied on his chance, and Dimitrios Koutsomitis would go on to score for UB to give them the lead. Nolan Metzler would be the final shooter for Syracuse, and Tyler Stark would come up with the save to give UB the 2-1 victory over Syracuse.

Edging the Bulls
The Purple Eagles last faced off against UB on November 13th, 2015 at Dwyer Arena and despite being outshot 43-38 by the Bulls, they would walk away with a 5-3 victory in which Alex Wagner would have a three point night.

Dalton Bew would open the scoring 4 minutes into the first period with help from Josh Pietrantonio. The Purple Eagles would hold the lead until the last 17 seconds of the period when Robert Lang would beat Mike Parda on the power play. Willie Sanchez and Sean Dungan would both get assists on the goal. Niagara’s penalty kill struggled throughout the game as UB would for 3 for 9 on the man advantage, while the Purple Eagles failed to capitalize on any of the six chances they had.

The Bulls would take the lead on the power play with Willie Sanchez finding the back of the net with help from Sean Dungan to get his second assist of the night. Mike Skopinski would tie the game up at two before the end of the second period with Pat Gregory and Joey Sheena getting assists on the game tying goal.

Dalton Bew would once again strike early picking up his second goal of the night just two minutes into the period with Alex Wagner picking up the lone helper on the goal. Being down by one, UB would respond with Willie Sanchez netting his second of the game on the power play with Richard Ledyard and Robert Lang both getting assists on the goal to knot the game up at three. The tie would be short lived as Matt Bavaro would beat Tyler Stark to put the Purple Eagles up by 4-3. Alex Wagner and Tyler Stockwell would both have assists on the goal. The Purple Eagles were relentless offensively firing 18 shots on Stark in the third period alone. With three minutes left in the game, captain Pat Gregory would beat Stark to put the Purple Eagles up 5-3 with help from Alex Wagner. Goalie Mike Parda came through with an exceptional game for the Purple Eagles stopping 40 of 43 shots faced in the game.

Leading the Bulls
The Bulls are led offensively by seven players who have 20 points or more so far this season. Leading the way is Robert Lang with 29 points (14+15) followed by Eric Szczecinski with 28 points (16+12), Sean Dungan with 28 points (4+24), Bobby Piotrowicz with 25 ponts (11+14), Richard Ledyard with 23 points (11+12), Willie Sanchez with 23 points (10+13), and Brad Tardif rounding out the top 20 club with 20 points (9+11). Lang’s 29 points have him tied for 12th among point leaders in the NECHL. Szczecinski’s 16 goals has him tied for 9th among goal leader in the NECHL.

In goal UB has relied heavily on the services of Tyler Stark who through 14 games played holds a 9-4 record with a 2.58 GAA and a .920 Save Percentage. Stark’s GAA is second among NECHL goalies behind fellow teammate Dylan Arnold who holds a 1.88 GAA. At the same time, Stark’s Save Percentage is 3rd in the NECHL with Arnold’s .925 Save Percentage ranking him first in the NECHL. Dylan Arnold has also recorded the only shutout for the Bulls this season. He holds a 6-2-2 record through 10 games played.

With a strong week of practice under their belt, the Purple Eagles will be looking to have a strong performance against an exceptional and nationally ranked UB team. Every player will need to contribute in each aspect of the game and smart decisions will have to be made with the puck for the Purple Eagles to come out victorious. Be sure to come out to the Northtown Center to watch this rival NECHL match up unfold on Friday at 7:30PM. If you can’t catch the game, be sure to follow us on Twitter @NUHockeyACHA for all the latest in game updates.