NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Purple Eagles hockey team was defeated in the first of two games with the No. 15/14 Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend. Ohio State scored twice in the opening two minutes, as Niagara fell 10-2 Friday evening at Dwyer Arena.
Sophomore forward Nick Farmer scored a power-play tally for Niagara, and freshman Derek Brown scored his third goal in four games. Kris Spriggs, Stanislav Dzakhov, and Tanner Lomsnes all notched assists in the loss.
Game Summary
* Final Score: Ohio State 10, Niagara 2
* Niagara Goal Scorers: Nick Farmer, Derek Brown
* Niagara Assists: Stanislav Dzakhov, Tanner Lomsnes, Kris Spriggs.
* In Goal: Jackson Teichroeb (0-2-1) – 4 GA, 4 SV; Joe O’Brien – 3 GA, 5 SV; Guillaume Therien – 3 GA, 12 SV)
* Power Plays: Niagara – 1-for-2 (2 SH); Ohio State – 1-for-2 (2 SH)
* Location: Dwyer Arena – Niagara Univ., N.Y.
* Attendance: 1488
Game Recap
* The Buckeyes scored a pair of goals on their first three shots of the contest. Matthew Weis opened the scoring 40 seconds in, and Luke Stork scored 1:19 later.
* Tommy Parran pushed Ohio State’s lead to 3-0 before Niagara got on the board with a power-play goal at the 11:57 mark. Nick Farmer dug a puck out along the left boards to Kris Spriggs at the point. Spriggs returned the pass to Farmer, who drove in on goal and lifted a shot over the pad of Ohio State goaltender Matt Tomkins.
* Niagara entered the second period down 4-1 and turned to Joe O’Brien in net. He entered the game strong with five saves, but Ohio State then scored on three straight shots in a span of 1:13, prompting the change to Guillaume Therien in net.
* The Purple Eagles came out with a strong effort to start the third period, as Johnny Curran and Ryan Kuhn were denied on a pair of close scoring opportunities before Niagara found its second goal of the night.
* Just under six minutes into the third period, Niagara found its second goal of the game to make it 9-2 Ohio State. Tanner Lomsnes fed a puck around the Ohio State goal to Stanislav Dzakhov, who found Derek Brown open in the low slot.
* Ohio State tallied one more goal at the 14:55 mark on a breakaway by John Wiitala, making it a 10-2 final.
Coach’s Corner
* Head coach David Burkholder: “Their transition game is probably the best we’ve seen this season, but still, we’re a better team than what we showed tonight. It was a big night. Our guys were fired up to see what we had, and unfortunately we didn’t respond. We dug an early hole and it was too much against a really good team.”
Inside the Numbers
* Derek Brown, who was named Travel Team USA Rookie of the Week by Atlantic Hockey on Tuesday, scored his third goal in four games in the third period. He has now also scored in consecutive games, the first Purple Eagle to do so this season.
* With his assist on Nick Farmer’s goal, Kris Spriggs has a two-game point streak (1+2) for the second time this season. He had one goal and two assists the first two games of the 2016-17 season as Niagara opened its schedule at Dwyer Arena against Holy Cross.
* Both Ohio State and Niagara went 1-for-2 on the man advantage. The Purple Eagles have now scored a power-play goal in five of six games this season and hold a 15.4-percent conversion rate (6-for-39).
Up Next
* Niagara and Ohio State return to Dwyer Arena for the second game of the weekend series Saturday night at 7 p.m. Jeremy White has the call on 1340 AM WLVL.
