NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The No. 14/15 Niagara hockey team were able to bounce back after a loss against the Canisius Golden Griffins, dropping its cross-town rival, 2-0 in front of a sold out crowd at Dwyer Arena on Saturday evening.
After falling to the Griffs (11-14-5; 10-9-2 AHA) 2-0 on Thursday evening, the Purple Eagles (18-5-5; 17-2-2 AHA) were looking to pocket two out of a possible four points in the home-and-home series. With a little over five minutes remaining in the contest and the game knotted at zero, Ryan Murphy chased down a loose puck along the left boards and raced in on Canisius netminder Tony Capobianco before lifting it upstairs over the goalie’s shoulder to give the Purple Eagles the 1-0 lead.
Patrick Divjak added the empty net tally with three seconds on the clock to solidify the victory and extend the team’s home-ice unbeaten streak to a nation best 18 games, four shy of the program record of 22.
Carsen Chubak was solid in net, stopping all 32 Canisius shots for his sixth shutout of the season, improving his record to 18-4-5.
“All weekend you hope that your best player is going to make a play and Murphy did,” head coach David Burkholder said. “The timing of the goal was unbelievable. That’s as close of a weekend series we’ve had. It was a track meet with both teams on the rush being so dangerous. That was an entertaining hockey game.”
The score remained deadlocked at zero after the first 20 minutes of play, as both goaltenders were strong between the pipes pushing aside 13 looks on net.
Niagara’s best opportunity of the period came off the stick of Matt Chartrain about four minutes in. Right winger Sam Alfieri found Chartrain streaking down the slot on a partial breakaway, but the rookie’s low shot, stick-side went wide.
The back-and-forth affair continued into the second stanza with NU holding a slight 13-10 edge in shots. The Purple Eagle penalty killing unit had to be solid in front of Chubak as Canisius had three man-advantage opportunities, including a 5-on-3 in the final 20 seconds of the frame that would spill over into the remaining period.
Kyle Gibbons had a golden opportunity to put the Griffins ahead by a goal with the two-man advantage in the dying seconds of the second. The right winger took a one-timer at the top of the slot towards an open, but Dan Weiss made a diving block to head into the second intermission still tied at zero.
The Purple Eagles started off the final period killing off the 5-on-3, and proceeded to pepper Capobianco with 18 shots before finally pocketing the pair of goals for the win.
“We have a great record at home,” added Burkholder. “We use that to our advantage, trying to making this a tough place to play. Tonight I think we were physical, especially on the back line and we had a few big hits early to welcome the opponent. There are two more home games to go until the playoffs, and the streak is still alive which is amazing for these guys. They’re a part of something special here.”
Niagara is back in action next Friday, Feb. 15 when the Purple Eagles battle Robert Morris at Dwyer Arena before traveling to Pittsburgh, Pa. to wrap up the home-and-home series. Both contests are scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m.
