Twice the Niagara men’s hockey team held the lead over Michigan State, but the Purple Eagles had to settle for a 3-3 draw as the Spartans battled back for the second time in two nights at Munn Ice Arena on Saturday evening.

With 44 seconds remaining in the contest and the Purple Eagles (1-2-2) en route to a 3-2 victory, the Spartans (1-2-1) pulled goalie Will Yanakeff for the extra man and received the game-tying goal from left winger Brent Darnell off a rebound.

The teams battled into overtime, with MSU finding six looks on net to Niagara’s one, but neither team could find the back of the net.

“That was a hard fought weekend,” head coach David Burkholder said.  “We won four out of six periods on the weekend and only come out of it with a road tie which is unfortunate.”

After seeing its two-goal lead erased with a pair of third period tallies from the Spartans, Niagara right winger Dan Kolenda gave NU the 3-2 advantage with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game.  Yanakeff attempted to control a Patrick Divjak dump in, but the puck bounced over his stick to Kolenda who pounced on the mistake and snapped home his first goal as a Purple Eagle, but the team was unable to hold onto the lead.

“We have to be better when we have the lead especially against CCHA teams on the road,” Burkholder added.  “We had a lot of guys that played really well this weekend though, especially tonight.”

For the second straight night, the Purple Eagles were the first team to get on the scoreboard.  Niagara was whistled for a boarding penalty early in the opening period, but did not sit back on the man-disadvantage.  Divjak connected with a streaking Chris Lochner who buried the puck blocker side of Yanakeff 4:53 into the contest for a shorthanded tally.

Niagara’s powerplay unit came through in the second stanza after defender RJ Boyd was called for roughing with 14:12 on the clock.  With 34 seconds remaining on the man-advantage, right winger Ryan Rashid picked up a pass along the boards from Divjak and let a slapper fly from the point that was tipped in by Giancarlo Iuorio with a 7:14 remaining in the period.

Greg Wolfe gave the Spartans hope in the opening minutes of the final period as the winger tipped in a feed from Lee Reimer past NU keeper Carsen Chubak to cut the Purple Eagles lead to one goal 3:21 into the stanza.

MSU continued its second comeback in two nights against the Purps as center Matt DeBlouw tallied the initial game-tying goal off an assist from Brent Darnell with 12:20 on the clock to make it 2-2.

Chubak made his second-straight start between the pipes, pushing aside 35 Spartan shots.
The trio of assists from Divjak was a single-game career-high for the junior.

Niagara continues its second longest road trip of the season next week when the Purple Eagles take on the Clarkson Golden Knights starting on Friday, Oct. 26 and wrapping up the following day.  Both contests are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – 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.

After leading the Canisius College hockey team to its first win of the 2012-13 season, sophomore netminder Keegan Asmundson (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) collected Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week honors on Monday.

In his first collegiate appearance, Asmundson anchored the Griffs to a 3-1 victory against Alaska, earning Kendall Hockey Classic All-Tournament Team honors in the process. The rookie stopped 33 shots in the winning effort, which included killing all six Nanook power plays and 15 stops in the third frame.

With the win, Asmundson became the first Griff goaltender to earn a victory in his debut since Ryan Hatch posted a 2-1 win against RIT on Oct. 22, 2005.

Asmundson and the Griffs return to action on Friday, beginning a two-game series with No. 12 Western Michigan. Game time in Kalamazoo, Mich. is set for 7:05 p.m.