NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – Parker Gahagen stopped 34 shots and Nick DeCenzo scored in overtime to send the Black Knights to a 3-2 win over Niagara on Saturday night to complete a weekend sweep of the Purple Eagles.
Army (7-11-6, 5-9-6 AHA) got an incredible performance from its netminder Gahagen with double-digit stops in the first and second periods. DeCenzo scored his sixth of the year with 2:53 left in overtime to give the Black Knights the win.
Tyler Pham and Conor Andrle also scored for Army in the win as the Black Knight never relinquished the lead. Pham and DeCenzo each finished with two points on a goal and an assist.
Niagara (3-20-3, 3-15-2 AHA) was led by its goalie as well. Guillaume Therien finished with 22 saves and matched Gahagen save-for-save for most of the game. Niko Kovachis and Nick Farmer scored for the Purple Eagles in the loss.
Andrle picked up where he left off last night with his third of the weekend to give Army the 1-0 lead with 6:51 on the clock in the first period. He picked the pocket of a Niagara defender and the puck rolled out to Pham. He fired a wrister that was deflected to Andrle at the side of the net. Therien had committed to Pham’s shot and left just enough space for Andrle to jam it home for the first lead.
The advantage didn’t last long as the Purple Eagles evened the score at 1-1 with 3:13 remaining in the opening frame. Kovachis took a shot and with a ton of traffic in front, it deflected high. Gahagen went to glove it down and it hit off a skater in front and got behind the netminder to tie the game at 1-1.
The second period belonged to the netminders. Gahagen made a pair of incredible stops, but the stop of the frame was Therien’s towards the end of the period. Tyler Pham looked to have regained the lead for the Black Knights at the far post, but somehow Therien flashed the glove to keep it a 1-1 game going into the second intermission.
The Black Knights regained the lead midway through the third period with Pham scoring his fourth of the year. Nick DeCenzo broke into the zone, but had his shot saved by Therien, but he stuck with the play. He lifted the stick of the Niagara defenseman and fed Pham in the slot. He had plenty of time and ripped a wrister top shelf for the 2-1 lead.
However, the Black Knights couldn’t shut the door in the final seconds as Farmer scored with 39 seconds left and with the extra skater to even the score at 2-2. Niagara called its timeout and set up a play off the faceoff and it paid off as Farmer jammed home a rebound in front.
The team remained focused in overtime and DeCenzo ended the game just over two minutes into the extra frame. Joe Kozlak did some hard work behind the net and fed DeCenzo out front and he put it through the pads of Therien for the 3-2 win.
Ice Shavings: Tonight was the 16th meeting in the series between Niagara and Army … it is the 10th all-time meeting at Dwyer Arena … Andrle now has 16 points in his last 15 games and leads the team with 21 points … Army scored first for the 11th time this season and is 6-3-2 when scoring first … first road league sweep since UConn Oct. 20-21, 2006 … First overtime win since Nov. 14, 2014 against Holy Cross.
