NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – A shorthanded goal and another strong second period weren’t enough for the Niagara Purple Eagles who fell 4-2 to the Holy Cross Crusaders on Saturday night at Dwyer Arena.
Holy Cross (7-5-4; 6-1-4 AHA) jumped out to an early lead for the second game in a row, this time with a tally 1:38 into the game. Unlike Friday night, Niagara (3-11-0; 3-7-0 AHA) was able to take momentum back within the first 20 minutes as the penalty kill unit stepped up in a big way. Already facing the one-goal deficit, NU was able to kill off a five-minute major and tie the game in the process. Matt Dineen found Hugo Turcotte with a breakout pass to send the winger on a partial breakaway. With a defender on his back, Turcotte was able to put a move on Matt Ginn to beat the Crusader goalie with a backhand over the left pad to tie the game at 1-1.
Momentum stayed with the Purple Eagles through much of the second period. Niagara outshot Holy Cross 9-3 in the period, but the Crusaders cashed in on a late power-play chance to take a 2-1 lead into the third period.
“I thought in the second period we started to get it going, but really they’re tough to play against,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “They defend really well and any time we did get in their zone, their goalie was there for them time and time again.”
Ginn finished the game with 23 saves on 25 shots. Jackson Teichroeb also made 23 saves between the pipes in the loss for the Purple and White.
Turcotte had a pair of chances on the same penalty kill to tie the game early in the third. The referees had to go to the replay monitor after his second shorthanded breakaway appeared to go in after he beat Ginn over the shoulder, but the puck hit the crossbar and ricocheted out. A pair of power-play goals in the late half of the third period gave the Crusaders a 4-1 lead before Robert Angiolella added a goal in the final minute of the game to bring the game to its 4-2 final. The goal moved the freshman into a tie with Turcotte for the team-lead in goals with five.
“Tonight was one of those difficult nights where I think some real bad penalties on our part, especially in the second period, took us out of any flow we thought we were generating,” said Burkholder. “The third period was a lot of emotion and some more bad penalties.”
NU finished the game 0-for-6 with the man advantage while Holy Cross was able to go 3-for-9.
Niagara takes on RIT in a home and home series before it heads into the holiday break. Both Friday’s game in Rochester and Saturday’s game at Dwyer Arena begin at 7:00 p.m.
