MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Off to the program’s best start to a season in 10 years, the Niagara Purple Eagles hockey team received votes in the latest USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll, announced on Monday. This is the first time Niagara has received votes in a national poll since October 2014.
Last weekend, the Purple Eagles stayed undefeated in Atlantic Hockey play and moved to 5-2-1 on the season with a 3-3 tie and a 4-3 win against the Bentley Falcons at Dwyer Arena. Niagara was led offensively by forwards Tanner Lomsnes (3+1) and Sean King (2+2) and defenseman Noah Delmas (0+4), all of whom tallied four points on the weekend. Lomsnes has been a force for Niagara of late, scoring six goals and two assists in a recent four-game scoring streak, and his 10 points (7+3) in five conference games give him an AHC-best 2.0 points per game in conference play. Freshman Brian Wilson totaled 49 saves in goal to move to 3-1-1 on the season, accumulating a 2.38 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.
Delmas, a sophomore defenseman, leads the AHC and is tied for fourth nationally with 10 assists in eight games this season. Delmas (1+10) and Derian Plouffe (5+6) are tied for the Atlantic Hockey scoring lead at 11 points, and both have a point in all eight of the Purple Eagles’ contests to start the season. The eight-game point streaks by both Delmas and Plouffe are the second-longest in the NCAA, trailing only Western Michigan’s Colt Conrad (nine games).
The Purple Eagles, currently second in the Atlantic Hockey standings, host the first-place Army Black Knights for a two-game series at Dwyer Arena this weekend. Opening faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m. on both Friday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 11. For ticket information, please contact the Niagara Ticket Office at (716) 286-TIXX (8499), [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> or visit www.PurpleEagles.com/Tickets<http://www.purpleeagles.com/tickets>.
