Niagara Outlasts AIC in Double Overtime
NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y . — Dan Kolenda scored at 4:43 of the second overtime to give Niagara hockey a 1-0 win over AIC in the first game of the opening round of the 2014 Atlantic Hockey Tournament at Dwyer Arena on Friday evening.
Kolenda wrapped up what was the longest game in program history with his third goal of the season, tipping the puck underneath the pads of starting AIC goaltender Hunter Leisner off a Vince Muto shot from the point. With the win, the Purple Eagles take a 1-0 in the best-of-three first round series and push their record to 12-18-5 on the season, while the loss drops AIC to 10-24-1
Between the pipes Niagara’s Jackson Teichroeb took home the win, and his third shutout of the season, with 38 stops. Leisner competed save-for-save with Teichroeb and made 48 saves. Teichroeb had to make big stops throughout the contest, including several highlight saves while a man-down to keep the Purple Eagles in the game.
“It was a busy night for both goaltenders. They stole the show,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “Teichroeb has been great for us down the stretch. If he can play like that tomorrow we’re in good shape.”
After 60 minutes of scoreless hockey that saw the Purple Eagles outshoot the Yellow Jackets 36-31, the teams headed into sudden death overtime.
The first period of extra time saw Niagara outshoot the Yellow Jackets, 7-5, with three of those chances coming on the power play as the Yellow Jackets were called for too many men with under 10 minutes remaining in the period. Despite being a man down it was AIC that almost tucked away the go-ahead goal as Blake Peake raced in on Teichroeb, but Muto made a superb defensive effort with a sliding save to prevent the pass across the slot to an open AIC player.
“Everyone chipped in tonight,” added Burkholder. “From start to finish Divjak was our best player. That was a very complete game for him. It’s the time of year where he has to come through, and he did. Pietrobon was also able to create some energy for us. Overall it was a great experience for everyone. It’s one win down and five to go. That’s how we’re looking at this.”
The teams traded opportunities throughout regulation, with the scoring chances increasing as the game wore on, but the teams continued to come up against the solid goaltending of Teichroeb and Leisner. Teichroeb made several key saves during an AIC power play midway through the second period, including a sliding pad save on a Jake Williams’ one time shot through traffic from the near faceoff circle.
In the waning moments of the third period it looked like Niagara would find the go-ahead go as the Purple Eagles peppered Leisner with quality scoring opportunities, three of which came off the stick of Ryan Rashid, but the AIC netminder was a brick wall in between the pipes to send the contest into OT.
The Purple Eagles were able to get a season-high 49 looks on net. Both teams went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage.
Niagara looks to wrap up the first round tomorrow when the Purple Eagles and Yellow Jackets take to the ice at Dwyer for a 7:05 p.m. puck drop.
