SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Behind a pair of second-period goals that came one minute apart, the No. 17 Niagara hockey team downed American International, 2-1, Saturday evening at Olympia Ice Arena completing the weekend sweep.
The Purple Eagles (13-3-4; 12-0-1 AHA) received scores from Chris Lochner, Dan Kolenda and Ryan Rashid to extend Niagara’s current unbeaten streak to three games. For the second straight night, junior goaltender Carsen Chubak was solid in net, stopping 25 of the 26 shots AIC fired on goal.
The Purple Eagles are one of two teams in NCAA Division I hockey, along with Quinnipiac, that are currently unbeaten in conference play. The Bobcats are 10-0-1 in the ECAC, while the Purps hold a 12-0-1 mark in Atlantic Hockey.
“It’s the old adage that defense is going to win you championships and I thought tonight was very evident that our defensive core as a group and Carsen Chubak came to play,” head coach David Burkholder said. “We took care of our own end and scored some beautiful, timely goals from Lochner and Kolenda. It’s that those guys are on a hot streak and in general I’m just very satisfied with the effort on the road.”
The Purple Eagles and Yellow Jackets (4-12-3; 1-9-3 AH) created several quality chances in the opening period, with Niagara outshooting AIC, 15-10, but both goaltenders remained strong between the pipes to keep the zeros on the scoreboard heading into the first break.
Niagara’s best chance came a little over midway through the period off the stick of Kolenda. The rookie shouldered his way passed a defenseman around the net, ripping a high shot that beat AIC goalie Ben Meisner glove-side, but it rang off the crossbar.
The Purple Eagles broke the scoreless deadlock 12:41 into the second period when Lochner scored his seventh goal of the year and second in two games. Mike Benedict picked up a dump in from Marc Zanette along the left boards, leaving it for Lochner who ripped one top-shelf glove-side for a 1-0 Niagara lead.
The Purps saw their lead double one minute later as Kolenda picked up his fourth tally of the year. Patrick Divjak flew into the offensive zone with Kolenda on a 2-on-1. Meisner gave up a juicy rebound on Divjak’s initial look on net, and Kolenda jumped on the loose puck, depositing it in the empty net to make it a 2-0 game.
A boarding penalty to Jason Beattie as the 12:39 mark of the final frame led to the Yellow Jackets only tally of the game. With 37 seconds remaining on the man-advantage Brandon Lubin took a long shot into traffic that was tipped underneath Chubak’s pads by Alexander MacMillan to cut the Purple Eagles’ lead in half.
Rashid solidified the victory for Niagara with an empty netter at the buzzer.
The game wrapped up with Niagara outshooting the Yellow Jackets, 47-26.
Niagara takes its three-game unbeaten streak to Worcester, Mass. where the Purple Eagles will face Holy Cross in a two-game series. The teams will meet Friday, Jan. 18, and wrap up the series the following day. Both contests are scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. start.
