DENVER, Colo. – The Niagara men’s hockey team remained winless in non-conference play as the Purple Eagles fell to the No. 17 Denver Pioneers, 5-1, at Magness Arena on Friday evening.
Denver’s offense was fueled by special teams as three power play tallies were scored, while the Pioneer’s penalty killing unit stopped all five NU man-advantages, including 1:27 of 5-on-3 action. The Purple Eagles’ penalty kill went 3-for-6 while playing down a man, while going scoreless in seven power play opportunities.
“I think with the early penalty trouble that we got ourselves into didn’t allow us to get our feet under us,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “I thought the first 10 minutes of the second period 5-on-5 we played really well, but when you’re going to come in and play a team like Denver we’re going to have to work a lot harder than we did.”
The Purple Eagles’ penalty trouble began in the early part of the opening frame as Mike Conderman and Patrick Divjak were called for penalties 54 seconds apart giving the Pioneers 1:06 of 5-on-3 play.
Denver took advantage of the extra men, as the Pioneers picked up power play goals from junior Joey Laleggia and senior captain David Makowski. Laleggia scored on a two-man advantage for his third goal of the year, while Makowski also netted his third less than two minutes later to make it 2-0 at 9:24 of the opening frame.
Freshmen Stephen Pietrobon cut the Pioneers’ lead in half with a little over five minutes remaining in the frame with his first goal wearing the Purple and White. Senior captain Ryan Rashid dished a pass to Pietrobon from behind the net, and the rookie chipped it over Denver netminder Sam Brittain stick side.
The teams went into the first intermission with Denver holding a lopsided 17-3 advantage in shots.
Teichroeb stood firm between the pipes in the opening two minutes of the second frame, pushing aside a trio of quality scoring opportunities. The NU goaltender stymied both Grant Arnold and Ty Loney on a 2-on-1 opportunity, and a made a solid poke check shortly after on Loney while on the breakaway.
The Purple Eagles almost evened the game at 10:11 of second when Patrick Conte raced down left boards, sliding a cross ice pass to Kevin Patterson whose one timer was foiled by the sliding pad of Brittain. Fourteen seconds later however, Denver regained its two-goal lead 10:25 into the second as Loney received a pass from Trevor Moore right outside the blue paint and roofed the puck stick side of Teichroeb for his first of the season.
Quentin Shore and Makowski would follow Loney’s tally with one of their own, pushing the Pioneers to a 5-1 lead heading into the final stanza. Shore would deflect a Grant Arnold shot from the point at 15:25 of the second, and Makowski would answer 48 seconds later on the power play with a high shot, glove side for his second of the contest.
The two-game tilt in Colorado continues on Sunday when the Purple Eagles are welcomed by the Air Force Falcons to the Cadet Ice Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. Puck drop is schedule for 6 p.m. ET.
