The 2016 Hall of Fame Ceremony and Luncheon will be held on Saturday, Feb. 20 at Noon in the Statler Dining Room of St. Vincent’s Hall on the campus of Niagara University.
The 1999-2000 Purple Eagles men’s ice hockey team made history by capturing the inaugural College Hockey America championship in the program’s fourth season of NCAA Division I competition. The Purple Eagles went on to post the program’s first and only win in the NCAA Tournament when they defeated the University of New Hampshire in the Western Regional First Round.
The 1999-00 team was guided by 15 members of Niagara’s inaugural team that joined the Purple Eagles three seasons prior. The forward group was headed by all-time Niagara greats such as Jay Kasperek, Mikko Sivonen, Kyle Martin, and Mike Isherwood. Four seniors led the way on the blue line, with defensemen Peter Ricketts, Nate Handrahan, and Colin Rows joined by Chris MacKenzie, who is the program’s all-time leading scorer among defensemen. In goal, the team was anchored by a phenomenal season by Greg Gardner, whose 12 shutouts remain an NCAA single-season record, in addition to his Niagara single season-record 41 games played, 29 wins, and 1.56 goals-against average.
As the No. 1 seed in the CHA Tournament, Niagara defeated Air Force, 9-1, in the semifinal before defeating Alabama-Huntsville, 3-2, in the championship game. Kyle Martin was named the tournament MVP and was joined on the Tournament All-Star Team by Jay Kasperek, Chris MacKenzie and Greg Gardner. In their NCAA Tournament opener, the Purple Eagles knocked off third-seeded New Hampshire, 4-1, behind two goals from Mikko Sivonen, with Ryan Harris and Kyle Martin each adding a goal, and 34 saves from Greg Gardner. The Purple Eagles advanced to the Elite Eight where they fell to the eventual national champions, North Dakota.
The 1999-2000 team holds the program record for the most wins (30), most goals (165), the best power play percentage (27.8) and the best penalty kill percentage (87.9) in a single season. On October 20, 1999, the Purple Eagles were ranked No. 15 in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine Poll to receive a national ranking for the first time in program history. The team finished the regular season ranked 8th in the nation.
Three members of the team have been inducted into the Niagara University Athletics Hall of Fame as individuals: Greg Gardner in 2006, and Peter DeSantis and Mike Isherwood in 2007.
1 Mike Shannon 11 Mikko Sivonen 22 John Heffernan
2 Peter Ricketts 12 Darwin Murray 23 Nicholas Carriere
3 Chris MacKenzie 14 Mike Isherwood 24 Todd Elliot
4 Nate Handrahan 15 Rob Bumbaco 25 Colin Rows
5 Mike Bozoian 16 Peter DeSantis 27 Richard DeCaprio
6 Jon Marshall 17 Jay Kasperek 28 Andrew Nahirniak
7 Kyle Martin 18 Thomas Clayton 30 Greg Gardner
8 Timo Makela 19 Randy Harris 35 Mario Long
9 John Maksymiu 20 Scott McDonald — Scott Crawford
10 Chris Sebastian 21 Adam Morris — Bernie Sigrist
Head Coach: Blaise MacDonald Assistant Coaches: Dave Burkholder, Kenny Rausch and Jerry Forton
Hockey Trainer: Naoto Goto Hockey SID: Steve Ostaszewicz
Team Moderator: Dr. Robert Hall Student Managers: Chanin Martin, Lisa Marley and Sean McPhee
