Backed behind a three-point evening from Isaac Kohls and Hugo Turcotte, the Niagara hockey team shutout the AIC Yellow Jackets 5-0 on Saturday evening at Dwyer Arena.
After dropping a tough decision to the Yellow Jackets last night, Niagara outworked its Atlantic Hockey foe to split the season series to improve to 5-5-3 in Atlantic Hockey play and 5-12-3 overall. The Yellow Jackets see their league mark fall to 5-8-0 and 5-14-0 overall.
“AIC is a very good team. They are tough in the neutral zone, have some weapons and a good power play so it was a great team effort from start to finish that resulted in a huge bounce back win for us,” said head coach Dave Burkholder. “I’m very proud of the team. This was a big test for us and the win puts us right back in the hunt in Atlantic Hockey.”
Kohls scored a career-high two goals and added an assist, while Turcotte contributed a score and a pair of helpers. The three-point effort from Kohls pushes his point streak to three games (4-3-7). Niagara also received goals from Ryan Rashid and TJ Sarcona en route to the victory. Niagara netminder Jackson Teichroeb snuffed 12 AIC shots to earn his second shutout of the season.
“Isaac Kohls is one of our top players and he produced tonight,” added Burkholder. “He’s been very proactive this season, going for the puck when he doesn’t have it. He’s outworking everyone consistently and is being rewarded with points. Hugo played an important role tonight, as well as Rashid. I don’t think we had a weak link at all. There were no passengers in regards to our forwards.”
The teams headed into the second frame with the shot count knotted at seven apiece and Niagara holding a 1-0 lead as the Purple Eagles got on the board at 6:52 of the first. Kevin Ryan slid a pass across the slot to Vince Muto who let fly a one-time shot towards the trafficked net that was deflected underneath starting goaltender Hunter Leisner by Rashid for his team-leading seventh goal of the season.
The Purple Eagles seized territorial control in the second, outshooting AIC, 14-3 in the second period, and 11-2 in the third.
Kohls spearheaded the effort with a pair of tallies and an assist in a three-goal second period that gave Niagara the 4-0 advantage. His first tally came at 2:07 of the second as the junior picked up a feed from Turcotte and raced through the neutral zone before ripping a shot from just inside the blue line that beat Leisner low, glove side.
Kohls brought the fans to their feet once against at 15:34 while on the power play as Leisner gave up a big rebound off Kohls’ initial shot from the slot that was picked up by the junior and wristed home. Kohls began the play for Niagara’s fourth goal of the contest and Turcotte finished it to secure his seventh tally of the season. Kohls picked up the puck at the blue line, skating across the slot before lifting the puck towards goal from a bad angle that was tucked in by Turcotte.
Sarcona capped off the evening’s scoring with 9:11 remaining in regulation to garner his fourth goal of the year. The freshman parked himself in the blue paint and pounced on the rebound off a Kevin Ryan shot to make it 5-0.
The game wrapped up with the shot count in favor of Niagara, 32-12. The Purple Eagles killed off all four Yellow Jacket power play opportunities, while going 1-for-4 on the man advantage.
Niagara continues its four-game home stand next weekend when the Purple Eagles host Holy Cross in a weekend series starting on Friday, Jan. 17 and wrapping up the following day. Both contests are scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
