WORCESTER, Mass. – The Niagara Purple Eagles mounted a third-period rally to take game one against the Holy Cross Crusaders 2-1 on Friday night at the Hart Center.
An early goal from Kevin Patterson erased a one-goal deficit before Luke Edwards put Niagara (6-25-4) in front six minutes later. Robert Angiolella, who was playing in his first game since Jan. 24, and Stephen Pietrobon assisted on both tallies to both finish with a game-high two points.
“We were trying to stay in the moment because these guys were so hyped to start a new season,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “We battled back from a goal down and made one more play than they did.”
Jackson Teichroeb made 31 saves in the victory and the Purple Eagles defense held the Crusaders (13-17-5) to just nine shots through the final 20 minutes to preserve the win.
“Teichs was a pillar and our defense corps, as a group of six, shut down a good team,” said Burkholder.
Trailing 1-0 at the beginning of the third, Niagara knotted things up as Angiolella and Pietrobon worked the puck up to Patterson at the point where the sophomore sent a blast through the Holy Cross netminder to square things up with 15:52 to play in regulation.
Niagara went ahead with 9:50 on the clock as Pietrobon took a pass from Angiolella, waited for a passing lane to open up, and fed Edwards who went to his backhand and found the beck of the net and gave his team the 2-1 lead.
From there it was the defense that stepped up and kept the Crusaders to the outside. The penalty killers went 4-for-5 on the night with the most important kill coming with four minutes left on the clock.
It was all Niagara through the opening 20 minutes, the visitors held a 13-9 lead in shots on goal and had the majority of grade-A scoring chances, but it was Holy Cross that broke through first. The Crusaders broke the scoreless tie with 7:56 to play in the second on the power-play after a questionable tip off a shot from the point found the back of the net. The play went under a lengthy review before it was judged to be a good goal.
These same teams will meet tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. in the Hart Center for game two of the best-of-three series.
