The Niagara Purple Eagles begin their postseason with a best-of-three series against the Holy Cross Crusaders in Worcester, Massachusetts.
The Road So Far
* The Purple Eagles head into the AHA Playoffs finishing the season on a 2-1-1 run.
* They began the run with a mammoth 6-1 win over Air Force on Feb. 20. A 4-4 tie against those same Falcons was sandwiched in by a 2-1 upset win over the AHA regular season champion Robert Morris on Feb. 27. The regular season game came to a close on Feb. 28 with a tight 2-1 loss to the Colonials.
* Niagara won three straight between Nov. 8-22. A 3-2 OT win over Bentley got NU some momentum heading into a weekend against Army where it swept the home weekend by a combined score of 9-2.
* Isaac Kohls<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4707> led the Purple Eagles with 19 points and 11 assists, and tied for the team lead with eight goals. He scored four goals in the month of February.
* Hugo Turcotte<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4717> also had eight goals on the year. He added another eight assists to finish the season with 16 points.
* Defenseman Keegan Harper<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4820> led all freshmen with 13 points (3g, 10a) in 31 games played.
* Turcotte and Kevin Patterson<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4712> finished tied for first in the country with two shorthanded goals apiece.
Ending On A High Note
* Niagara went a combined +45 in the 2-1-1 run through the final two weekends of the season.
* The top line of Isaac Kohls<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4707> (six points) – TJ Sarcona<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4715> (six points) – Stanislav Dzakhov<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4818> (four points) led the team with a combined 16 points (7g, 9a) through the stretch in question.
* The top D-pair of Keegan Harper<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4820> and Kevin Patterson<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4712> both finished with a +6 rating.
* For a different kind of high note: the Robert Morris weekend was played with a season-high seven players out due to injury in both games.
Welcome To The First Round Of The Playoffs
* This is Niagara’s second time in the best-of-three opening round of the AHA playoffs since joining the conference in 2010.
* The Purple Eagles swept the AIC Yellow Jackets last season with a 1-0 double-OT win on March 7 and a 4-2 win on March 8. Both games were played in Dwyer Arena.
* NU earned a first-round bye in both 2012 and 2013.
* This is the first time the Purple Eagles and Crusaders have met in the postseason.
History 101
* Holy Cross took all four games of this season’s series.
* Niagara held a slight 7-5-0 edge all-time against Holy Cross heading into the season but Holy Cross now holds a 7-9-0 advantage.
* The Purple Eagles won the first five games of the all-time series. The closest game in that stretch was a 5-4 OT win on Oct. 14, 2006. NU outscored its opponent 25-8 during the streak.
* Holy Cross was the opponent when Niagara set the record for most shots on goal in a game. NU put 61 shots on goal in a 6-0 win on Jan. 11, 2000.
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Hitting The Century Mark
* Junior Hugo Turcotte<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4717> will be the next player to play in his 100th game for the Purple Eagles. He enters the weekend with 98 games played in his career.
* In those 98 games, he has collected 30 goals and 32 assists for 62 career points.
Playing Shorthanded
* The injury bug has circled back around on the Purple Eagles. The team had a run of six-consecutive games with six players out due to injury before setting a record against Robert Morris to close the season with seven players on the injured list.
* Niagara has lost 126 man-games due to injury this season.
* The team had to play with just five healthy defenseman against Mercyhurst which forced sophomore winger Patrick Conte<http://www.purpleeagles.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4703> to play both games on the blueline.
