NIAGARA HOCKEY DROPS TIGHTLY-CONTESTED LOSS TO AHC LEADER ARMY
NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles hockey team got off to a strong start in Friday night’s meeting against the Army Black Knights, a matchup of the top two teams in Atlantic Hockey. After Kris Spriggs opened the scoring early for Niagara, Army goaltender Cole Bruns blanked the potent Niagara offense as the Black Knights came back for the win, scoring the eventual game-winner with 10:58 to play and adding an empty-net goal late. Niagara dropped the first game of the weekend series 3-1 Friday night at Dwyer Arena.
Game Summary
* Final Score: Army 3, Niagara 1
* Niagara Goal Scorers: Kris Spriggs
* Niagara Assists: Sean King, Eric Cooley
* In Goal: Brian Wilson (3-2-1) – 2 GA, 14 SV
* Power Plays: Niagara – 1-for-5 (9 SOG); Army – 0-for-3 (2 SOG)
* Records: Niagara – 5-3-1 (4-1-1 AHC); Army – 6-3-0 (6-3-0 AHC)
* Location: Dwyer Arena – Niagara University, NY
* Attendance: 867
Game Recap
* Derian Plouffe nearly opened the scoring for the Purple Eagles just under a minute into the game. From the high slot, Plouffe redirected a point shot from Niko Kovachis past Army goaltender Cole Bruns, but the goal was waved off on a high stick.
* Niagara was able to break through and take a 1-0 lead at the 11:16 mark of the first as Kris Spriggs picked up his first goal of the season. Eric Cooley set up Sean King for a shot that was turned away by Bruns, but the rebound slid right to Spriggs on the back door for the tap-in goal.
* Army was able to tie the game just 4:38 into the second period. An errant pass in the Niagara end went right to Conor Andrle as he hopped off the Army bench. Andrle’s shot went off the pad of Niagara’s Brian Wilson and right to Trevor Fidler for the rebound goal.
* Both teams had their discipline tested in the second period, with Army taking four penalties to Niagara’s three. Those penalties resulted in four power plays, but just one shot on goal by Niagara.
* The Purple Eagles outshot Army 12-5 in the final period of play, but Bruns stood tall on every shot he faced and the Black Knights scored the game-winner with 10:58 to play.
* On a 3-on-2 break, Andrle took a pass from Army’s Nick DeCenzo and found Zach Evancho trailing on the play. Evancho found space behind the Niagara defense and roofed a one-time shot past Wilson to make it 2-1 Army.
* Wilson headed to the Niagara bench in favor of the extra attacker with 2:55 to play. Army blocked two Niagara shots in the 6-on-5 before Michael Wilson potted the empty-net goal for the 3-1 final score.
Coach’s Corner
* Head coach Jason Lammers: “I thought that was the best hockey game we played all year, and against a very highly-touted opponent. I think it showed our guys a lot of how good we’re growing and where we’re going. They’re a good hockey team and we made one or two plays that we’d probably like back where they scored, and that’s the difference in the game.”
Inside the Numbers
* The Purple Eagles, entering the night second in Atlantic Hockey, suffered their first conference loss of the season to the first-place Black Knights.
* Niagara limited Army to just 17 shots on goal, the least by a Niagara opponent in nine games this season.
* The loss was the first for the Purple Eagles when scoring the first goal, and the first when outshooting their opponent. Niagara entered Friday’s game 3-0-1 in each category.
* Kris Spriggs scored his first goal of the season for Niagara in the loss. He finished the 2016-17 season second on the Purple Eagles in scoring with 16 points (9+7) in 35 games.
* Sean King extended his point scoring streak to four games, with seven points (2+5) in that time.
* King led all players in the game with five shots on goal, while Derian Plouffe finished second at four shots.
* Noah Delmas and Derian Plouffe, who entered Friday’s game tied for the second-longest scoring streak in the NCAA at eight games, were both held off the score sheet for the first time in the 2017-18 season.
Up Next
* Niagara and Army return to Dwyer Arena at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, November 11 for a Veteran’s Day matchup.
