WEST POINT — The Purple Eagles hockey team, with nine players out due to injury, stepped up from a Friday night loss to Army and put on one of their strongest offensive showings of the season. The Purple Eagles had a 4-3 lead late in the third period, but the Black Knights scored a power-play goal to tie the game with 7:32 to play before scoring the game-winner with 40 seconds left in overtime. After Niagara held the lead or was tied for the entire game, Army took the 5-4 overtime win Saturday night at Tate Rink.
10 of the team’s 12 points on the night came from freshmen. Tyler Tomberlin scored the first two goals of his collegiate career, while Joey Molinaro scored his first collegiate points with three assists, a season-high for any Niagara player in one game. Noah Delmas tallied two assists in the first period, giving him the team scoring lead with 14 points, all assists.
For the second straight night, Niagara struck first at Tate Rink. Noah Delmas fed to Keegan Harper across the blue line, and Harper crept in from the left point, firing a low wrist shot far-side to beat Army goaltender Parker Gahagen just 3:51 into the game. Joey Molinaro also assisted on the play.
Tyler Tomberlin scored his first goal of the season to make it 2-0 Niagara with 1:49 left before the first intermission. Molinaro dug a puck out from the corner to Delmas at the point, and Tomberlin redirected the shot past Gahagen to double the lead. Army was able to cut their deficit to one before the first intermission on a goal by Tyler Pham, but Niagara controlled the majority of possession in the first and outshot Army 12-8. Pham scored his second of the game to tie it at two 3:22 into the second period, but Niagara reclaimed the lead less than three minutes later. Stanislav Dzakhov ripped a wrist shot off the right pipe, and Gahagen mishandled the loose puck, putting it in the goal for the 3-2 Niagara lead. Amy’s C.J. Reuschlin tied the game with four minutes to go in the second period, but it was Niagara that responded with the next goal once again. Midway through the third period, Molinaro launched a shot from the left wing that left a long rebound for Tomberlin, who one-timed the loose puck over Gahagen for his second of the night. 2:13 after Tomberlin’s go-ahead goal, Army knotted the score once again with a power-play goal from Reuschlin, his second of the night coming off a rush with Taylor Maruya. The Purple Eagles and Black Knights exchanged odd-man rushes at each end of the ice all throughout overtime. In the closing minute, Gahagen made a sprawling save on Kris Spriggs who was all alone in front of the goal. Army came back on a 2-on-1, and Joe O’Brien made the initial stop on Zach Evancho, but Conor Andrle scored on the rebound to give Army the 5-4 win.
Niagara concludes the four-game Battle of the Bridge series next week with a pair of games against the Canisius Golden Griffins. Niagara and Canisius open the week with a 7:35 p.m. contest Wednesday in Buffalo. The Purple Eagles will host the final game of the season series with Canisius Friday at 7:05 p.m. The game will be carried regionally on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel on television and 1340 AM WLVL on radio.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
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