NIAGARA UNIV. — The Purple Eagles hockey team opened a two-game home stand against the RIT Tigers on Friday night at Dwyer Arena. Niagara trailed RIT just 1-0 midway through the second period, but the Purple Eagles surrendered five power play goals in the second half of the game en route to a 7-1 loss.
RIT opened the scoring on the power play 8:24 into the game. With TJ Sarcona in the box on a boarding penalty, the Tigers’ Chase Norrish fed Brady Norrish along the blue line. Teichroeb got a piece of the shot with his shoulder, but the puck found its way past the Niagara netminder. The Purple Eagles killed off RIT’s second power play of the opening period, as the Tigers generated six shots on goal, all of which were turned away by Teichroeb. Niagara’s best chance of the frame came on a 3-on-2 rush in the closing minute. Johnny Curran crossed a pass through the slot through Nick Farmer for a perfect one-time chance, but his shot was turned away by the right pad of RIT goaltender Mike Rotolo. Niagara and RIT traded chances early in the second period, but the Tigers took a 3-0 lead with 8:37 left in the period. After Liam Kerins scored on a pass that deflected off a skate and past Teichroeb, Ryan Kruper beat Teichroeb on a five-hole shot to extend the lead.
Guillaume Therien took over in goal for the remainder of the second period. Over the final eight minutes of the middle stanza, RIT converted on both of their two power-play chances with goals from Myles Powell and Kerins. Teichroeb returned to the goal to start the third period and made nine saves on 11 shots against. With a 5-on-3 opportunity, Stanislav Dzakhov got Niagara on the board with 5:16 left in regulation. Johnny Curran and TJ Sarcona worked the puck around the top of the power-play set to Dzakhov on the right wing, and his slap shot beat Rotolo to make it 5-1.
After a major penalty to Curran at the 16:01 mark of the third, RIT tacked on two more power-play goals. Abbott Girduckis buried the rebound of a wide shot from Kerins at the 16:21 mark, and Kruper concluded the scoring with his second goal of the night with 22 seconds remaining.
Niagara and RIT return to Dwyer Arena to conclude the weekend series at 7:05 p.m. Saturday. The Purple Eagles will be hosting a Teddy Bear Toss as a part of Niagara Athletics’ December toy drive. Fans can bring a teddy bear or other soft, plush toy and throw it on the ice when Niagara scores its first goal of the game, with all contributions going to the Niagara Falls Firefighters Christmas Toy Fund. Fans can also partake in a Postgame Skate with the Purple Eagles at Dwyer Arena after Saturday’s game.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
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