The Niagara men’s hockey team earned its first win of the season in a hard fought conference matchup against the Mercyhurst Lakers on Saturday evening in Dwyer Arena.
Junior defensemen Matt Williams scored the game-winning tally midway through the second period, to pocket the year’s first conference win. After receiving a pass from rookie Dan Kolenda behind the net, sophomore Chris Lochner fed Williams in the left circle and he one-timed the shot for his first tally of the year.
“This is truly the start of our season,” head coach David Burkholder said. “Obviously every point in Atlantic Hockey is huge and for us to answer the bell like we did tonight was great, especially after playing three games in eight nights which is not the norm in college hockey.”
Williams also added an assist in the Purple Eagles initial score, tallied by Giancarlo Iuorio Kolenda earned his first point as a Purple Eagle with a helper, while Ryan Rashid had a one-point night with an assist.
Both teams came out firing in the opening period, but neither could get on the board as each goaltender remained solid between the pipes.
It was Iuorio who gave the Purple Eagles the 1-0 lead with less than three minutes remaining in the first period. Rashid was able to outwork several Laker defenders behind the net, sliding the puck to Iuorio who was waiting at the top of the crease. Iuorio sniped one top-shelf over the shoulder of Laker goaltender Max Strang for his second goal of the season.
The squads headed into the first intermission with NU holding a 14-10 advantage in shots.
After Williams gave the Purple Eagles a two-goal cushion in the second 20 minutes of play, the Lakers were finally able to get on the scoreboard with a little more than five minutes remaining in the second period after sophomore Ryan Mislak snuck the puck underneath the pads of NU goaltender Carsen Chubak, but it was not enough for the comeback.
Niagara finished the game outshooting the Lakes by a 39-26 margin.
In his second start of the season, Chubak pushed aside 25 Laker looks on net.
NU will begin its four-game road trip next week starting with a double-dip against the Michigan State Spartans on the Spartans on Friday, Oct. 19 and Saturday Oct. 20 at Munn Arena. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7 p.m. for both contests.
