WORCESTER, Mass. – The Niagara Purple Eagles will head to their fourth consecutive AHA quarterfinals after defeating the Holy Cross Crusaders 5-3 in game three of the first round on Sunday night at the Hart Center.
Chris Lochner tallied the game winner for Niagara (7-26-4) two minutes into the final period while his team was on the power-play. Lochner posted-up to the right of the net and slammed home the rebound from a Vince Muto shot to give his team the 4-3 lead.
“I guess the guys really meant what they were saying all week,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “The banter around the room has been that this is a new season and we can win this thing. As a staff, we believe them.”
The Purple Eagles were led by Lawrence Smith (one goal, one assist), Kevin Patterson (one goal, one assist), and TJ Sarcona (two assists) who tied for a game-high two points each. A night removed from a 58-save performance, Jackson Teichroeb made another 47 stops to cement the win.
Niagara got to play with an early lead for the first time in the series as Smith gave NU a 1-0 lead just four minutes into the game. The puck found its way to the freshman at the point and Smith put a wrist shot through traffic for his third of the season.
Holy Cross (14-18-5) tied the game 90 seconds into the second, but Niagara responded with its first two power-play goals of the night. The Purple Eagles were given a 5-on-3 advantage and Patterson cashed in with a rocket. The Colorado Springs, Colorado native picked up a loose puck along the boards, walked to the top of the circle, and beat Matt Ginn stick-side to put the Purple and White up 2-1.
The lead was extended to a pair 12:28 into the second thanks to Keegan Harper’s power-play tally. Niagara worked the puck low-to-high as Patterson found Sarcona down low and it was Sarcona that fed Harper at the point. The AHA All-Rookie team member fired a shot that found its way through a crowd in front for his fourth of the year.
“Three goals from our defense corps and a really good special teams night was the difference,” Burkholder said.
Both the power-play and penalty kill units were red hot as NU went 3-for-5 while up a man and a perfect 5-for-5 while the Crusaders held the advantage. The three power-play tallies set a new season-high while Sunday was the 12th time NU held the opposing team off of the board while up a man.
After the Harper goal, Holy Cross closed the gap with a pair of goals over the next three minutes to knot things up at the 15:15 mark of the second to send the game into the third period tied at 3-3.
That’s where Teichroeb would take over and Lochner gave Niagara the last lead it would need. Teichroeb made 18 saves in the period, including a flurry late in the game after Holy Cross pulled their goaltender, that sent Hugo Turcotte coast-to-coast to seal the victory with an empty-net goal with just 50 seconds left to play.
“Teichs outplayed the best goalie in the league over the last few seasons in Ginn,” Burkholder said. “That’s not an easy task, but the playoffs bring out the best in some guys.”
The win sets up a rematch of last year’s AHA semifinals as the Purple Eagles head to Moon Township, Pennsylvania to take on the defending champion Robert Morris Colonials in a best-of-three series next weekend.
