The Niagara University ACHA Purple Eagles took to the ice in an evening affair against the Mercyhurst Lakers Wednesday evening coming away with a hard fought 3-1 victory to extend their current winning streak to seven games and up their record to 9-1 through ten games this season.

Both teams exchanged opportunities early on through the first four minutes with neither team establishing a presence in either zone. Kyle Clifford injected some energy into the Purple Eagles with a big hit 3 minutes into the game, as the Purple Eagles would just miss connecting on a glorious 2 on 0 opportunity as Ryan Peters couldn’t elevate the pass quick enough over Mercyhurst Goaltender William Wager’s pad. The Purple Eagles would continue to grind out the period winning multiple one on one battles and establishing some offensive zone presence as they would outshoot the Lakers 7-0 through a four minute stretch of the period but Wager continued to stand tall and make some exceptional saves. Niagara would continue to pour the pressure on getting several deflections and tips while outshooting the Lakes 17-6 through the first period.

The Purple Eagles gained early momentum by capitalizing on an early powerplay. After some nifty movement in the offensive zone, Rob McNamara would snap a wrister from just outside the face off dot after getting a nice feed from Logan Field with David Cristopher picking up the secondary assist. Niagara would feed off this and dominate the first half of the period in the offensive zone relying on a strong cycle by each line. Ryan Peters would extend Niagara’s lead after getting a slick breakout pass from Eric Hulford. Peters would split the Mercyhurst defensemen and slide a backhander five hole to extend NU’s lead to 2-0 at 8:53 of the second period. Mercyhurst would respond a mere 50 seconds later by grabbing a loose puck on a broken scramble in front of the net and sneaking it past Bennett Oxborough to trim the lead to 2-1.

The Niagara Penalty kill was the highlight of the third period for the Purple Eagles as they would play shut down defense after NU was handed a 5 minute major while still having a minor penalty on the board. The Penalty Kill shut down Mercyhurst and wouldn’t allow them to get anything going. Bennett Oxborough made some outstanding saves including a goal line puck stop with about two minutes left in the major penalty. After both penalties were killed, each team traded chances back and forth with Mercyhurst pulling their goalie with 2 minutes left in the game. Niagara would continue to play shutdown D with Oxborough continuing to stand on his head through the closing minutes. Luc Cross would eventually grind the puck out of the defensive zone and sneak past the Mercyhurst Defense to seal the deal with an empty net goal on a strong individual effort.

The Purple Eagles will look to extend their win streak to eight games on Sunday when they welcome SUNY Cortland to Dwyer Arena for an evening tilt with Warm-Ups slated for 6:50.

Additional Notes: Through 9 games, Rob McNamara (6 goals, 13 assists) and David Christopher (7 goals, 10 assists) rank 3rd and 6th respectively in the ACHA in points (1st and 2nd in NECHL). Christopher also ranks 3rd in the ACHA in PIM with 21. Bennett Oxborough ranks 7th in the ACHA in wins. Goaltender Grant Zell has been activated to join the NCAA Division 1 Team.

Cortland Game Preview:
2018 Game Results: February 16th @ Cortland – 7-4 Cortland Win, January 24th @ NU – 6-0 NU Win
Most Recent Game: October 13th @ Cortland – 6-2 NU Win (McNamara 1 goal, 2 assists, Gasiewicz & Peters 2 assists, Wery Win 20 saves on 22 shots)
Scouting Cortland (0-7-0): Most Recent Game 9-1 Loss on October 18th v. Oswego State University

Game Time Changes: Home Game v. Cornell on 11/17 has been moved to a 4:00PM warm up, and Home Game v. UB on 2/8 has been moved to a 2:15PM warm up. Please note all HOME GAME times listed on the website are warm-up times, and not game times.