WALTHAM, Mass. – Behind four second-period goals and two tallies from Mike Conderman, the Niagara hockey team battled from behind three times to down the Bentley Falcons, 5-3 Saturday evening at the John Ryan Skating Arena.
The Purple Eagles (4-11-3; 4-4-3 AHA) also received goals from Chris Lochner, Isaac Kohls and Hugo Turcotte on their way to the first road victory of the season, while freshman goaltender Jackson Teichroeb was solid in net, stopping 30 of the 33 shots Bentley fired on goal. Niagara put 33 shots on target as well while Falcons’ netminder Branden Komm finished with 28 saves, suffering the loss.
“It feels really good when you have a room full of guys who paid the price, had the passion and attention to detail to do whatever it took to get the win,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “Bentley is a really good first-place team with some very talented players offensively. When they pushed we pushed back harder and we came out with a huge win.”
Bentley (9-8-2; 7-3-2 AHA) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just 4:54 into the game behind a power play goal. A Brett Switzer feed to Jared Rickford stationed in the slot was one-timed past Teichroeb for the period’s only goal.
The second period saw a combined six goals as Niagara battled back three times from a goal down to head into the final period holding a 4-3 lead.
Lochner started the scoring for the Purple Eagles as the junior ripped a shot from the left faceoff circle that beat Komm clean top corner stick side at 3:21. Midway through the middle frame Bentley regained its lead as Andrew Fitzstephens cleaned up a rebound on a shot by Tyler Deresky, whose slap shot was saved by Teichroeb, but the puck jumped out to Fitzstephens for the easy wrist shop into an open net.
The Purple and White responded quickly with its first of two power play goals at 11:14 with a textbook play by Lochner, Ryan Rashid and Conderman. The trio combined with one-time feeds that ended with Conderman’s one-timer at the top of the slot, beating Komm over the shoulder.
Bentley answered a little over two minutes later with its own power play tally by Andrew Gladiuk to take a 3-2 lead at 13:22, but Dineen and Conderman gave the Purple Eagles their first lead of the contest with a goal each to make it 4-3 heading into the third period.
With less than two minutes remaining in the stanza, Turcotte took advantage of the extra attacker while on a delayed Bentley penalty, beating Komm with a deflection off a Matt Dineen shot through traffic. On the ensuing power play, the Purple Eagles would score goal number four as a Matt Williams‘ shot from the top of the slot was tipped in by Conderman for his second of the game.
With 6:05 left in regulation Niagara added a critical separation goal as Kohls scored on the rebound off a Brock Edwards shot to make it a two-goal game and keep the Purple and White undefeated against Bentley in the all-time series (6-0-2).
For the first time this season, the Purple Eagles scored a pair of power play goals in a game, going 2-for-5 overall, and went 2-for-4 while a man down.
“Special teams are a big part of college hockey and we were struggling during the first semester,” added Burkholder. “Our power play has gotten better on a daily basis during practice and the guys were rewarded tonight. A lot of it was just outworking Bentley’s guys, winning face offs and winning loose pucks. It was things like that which made the difference in the game.”
Niagara brings play back to Dwyer Arena after an eight-game road trip when the Purple Eagles host the AIC Yellow Jackets in a weekend series starting on Friday, Jan. 10 and wrapping up the following day. Both contests are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. starts.
Tickets are still available for both contests so call the Niagara Tickets Office (located inside Dwyer Arena) at 716-286-TIXX, visit www.PurpleEagles.com/Tickets or by emailing [email protected] to reserve your seats!
