NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara hockey team received goals from five different players en route to a 5-0 outing over Atlantic Hockey foe Army on Friday evening at Dwyer Arena.
The Purple Eagles (2-6-1; 2-1-1 AHA) collected goals from TJ Sarcona, Isaac Kohls, Stephen Pietrobon, Sam Alfieri and Hugo Turcotte, while Niagara goaltender Jackson Teichroeb pushed aside 21 Black Knight shots for his first collegiate victory and blank slate.
The Purple Eagles seized territorial control from the get-go, outshooting Army, 20-5 in the first period, 12-11 in the second and 10-5 in the final frame. It was also the first time since the start of the season that NU did not allow a power play goal, going 5-for-5 while a man down, and scoring a shorthanded tally.
“We knew going in that it was Gahagen’s first start in net. He’s a big kid so we tried to get a lot of pucks on him early and I thought we did a really good job in doing that,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “We play for first place so this weekend series is huge for our team. After this win, tomorrow’s game is even more important. We need to make sure we take care of business at home and obviously tonight we got two huge points and we need to do it again tomorrow.”
Niagara came out firing on all cylinders in the first frame against the Black Knights (1-7-0; 1-4-0 AHA), almost jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first 30 seconds after a Kohl’s blast rang off the post.
Niagara would find the back of the net twice in the final five minutes as Sarcona and Kohls each tallied their second goal of the year to make it 2-0 heading into the first break.
Sarcona got the scoring started at 15:47 as the freshman buried a pass from Mike Conderman with a one-timer on the doorstep, beating Parker Gahagen with a fluttering puck. With 55 seconds remaining in the stanza, Niagara pushed its lead to two goals as Kohls dumped in a puck that handcuffed the Army goaltender before sneaking under Gahagen.
Niagara secured its third shorthanded goal of the year off the stick of Pietrobon at 8:45 of the second. Sarcona came out with the puck at the near boards and connected with Pietrobon in the slot who slapped it home for his third of the season. The Purple and White responded three minutes later as Alfieri slapped home a shot through traffic to the right of Gahagen that beat him up high for the junior’s first tally of the season.
At 8:08 of the final frame, Niagara continued to diminish any hope for an Army comeback as Turcotte raced down the near boards with the puck and let fly a shot from the right faceoff circle that beat Gahagen clean top corner glove side at 11:52 remaining in regulation. It was the sophomore’s first of the year.
