NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – Despite a strong push through 40 minutes and power-play goals from Derian Plouffe and Sean King, the Niagara Purple Eagles hockey team came up on the short end of a 4-2 decision against the Canisius Golden Griffins Friday night at Dwyer Arena in front of a sellout crowd of 1,452. Noah Delmas, Chris Harpur, and Ben Sokay picked up assists for No. 20 Niagara in the loss, and freshman Brian Wilson made 24 saves on 27 shots.
Game Summary
* Final Score: Canisius 4, No. 20 Niagara 2
* Niagara Goal Scorers: Sean King, Derian Plouffe
* Niagara Assists: Noah Delmas, Chris Harpur, Ben Sokay
* In Goal: Brian Wilson (7-5-1) – 3 GA, 24 SV
* Power Plays: Niagara – 2-for-5 (6 SOG); Canisius – 1-for-5 (7 SOG)
* Records: Niagara – 9-6-1 (8-3-1 AHC); Canisius – 9-5-1 (9-5-0 AHC)
* Location: Dwyer Arena – Niagara University, New York
* Attendance: 1,452
Game Recap
* Niagara’s Brian Wilson made a huge save in goal to open the game as the Golden Griffins floated a puck on goal from the neutral zone. Grant Meyer corralled the loose puck, but Wilson stretched the left pad to make the sprawling denial.
* Minutes later, Niagara capitalized on its first power play of the night as Derian Plouffe wound up for a wrist shot from the right faceoff dot and ripped his shot top-shelf to open the scoring 8:23 in.
* Just about three minutes later on a power play of their own, Canisius’ Jimmy Mazza fired a rebound of Nick Hutchison’s shot into the goal to tie the score.
* In the second period, Niagara had a pair of official reviews deny a possible go-ahead goal. Tanner Lomsnes poked a rebound to the goal line but Canisius’ Daniel Urbani got just enough to keep it out. Minutes later, Plouffe nearly had his second of the game on a strong wraparound play, but the net was dislodged before the puck crossed the line.
* Ben Sokay set up Sean King for a power-play tally at the 15:05 mark of the second, a strong shot from the left faceoff dot that Urbani got a piece of with the pad but not enough.
* Canisius tied the game with 12:11 to play as a tipped shot from Jeff Murray sat loose in the slot and Dylan McLaughlin put the rebound past Wilson.
* Just about four minutes later, Wilson turned the puck over handling it behind his goal and nearly got in place to recover and make the stop against Canisius’ Nick Hutchison, but Hutchison won the battle to take the go-ahead goal.
* Niagara had a late chance with a power play in the closing minute, pulling Wilson for the 6-on-4 advantage, but could not find the equalizer and Ryan Schmelzer potted an empty-net goal to make it a 4-2 final.
Coach’s Corner
* Head coach Jason Lammers: “It was awesome to see the support of our fanbase, and it was really invigorating for our guys to have that type of turnout…it’s exciting to see what the guys have done and how they’ve earned that type of crowd. We’re excited to keep going. Obviously tonight was a tough night, but I thought our guys really competed and put a good effort in. There’s a couple areas we want to keep growing in, but they’re very correctable and we’re going to turn the page and come out with a good effort tomorrow night.”
Inside the Numbers
* A capacity crowd of 1,452 showed up for the first Niagara-Canisius game of the weekend. It was the first sellout at Dwyer Arena since a Nov. 16, 2013 matchup between the Purple Eagles and Army Black Knights.
* Derian Plouffe became the second Purple Eagle to cross the 10-goal mark this season, trailing only Tanner Lomsnes (12). Plouffe has four power-play goals, two shorthanded goals, and four even-strength goals on the season. He leads Niagara and is second in the AHC with 20 points.
* Noah Delmas picked up his 17th assist of the season. He moves to third in the NCAA in that category, first among all NCAA defenders, and first among all players in Atlantic Hockey.
* Niagara scored a pair of power-play goals in a game for the third time this season, the first such occurrence since a 3-3 tie versus Bentley on Nov. 3.
* Canisius’ first-period power-play goal broke a streak of 17 straight penalties killed by the Purple Eagles dating back to Nov. 21.
* Niagara held a 38-34 advantage in the faceoff dot, with Plouffe (18-for-29) and Nick Farmer (14-for-24) leading the way.
Up Next
* The Battle of the Bridge heads south on Saturday, Dec. 9 as Niagara and Canisius wrap up the weekend series at the HARBORCENTER at 4:35 p.m. Pat Malacaro has the play-by-play call on WLVL 1340 AM.
