Niagara hockey puts five-game unbeaten streak on the line at Army

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

• This will be the only regular season series between these two schools. It marks the second time in three seasons the Purple Eagles will not host one of the military academies at Dwyer Arena.
• Last year, Niagara went 1-2-1 against the Black Knights. At West Point, Niagara lost the series opener, 6-2, before the team’s wrapped things up with a 1-1 tie.
• Niagara holds a 14-7-1 all-time record against Army. Over the past three seasons, however, the Black Knights have gotten the better of the Purple Eagles, posting a 6-1-1 mark in the last eight outings. Half of those games were decided in overtime.

• From an offensive standpoint, the Purple Eagles are coming off their most productive series in 19 seasons. The 15 goals they hung on Canisius on November 15 and 17 are the most since they swept Findlay, 6-1 and 11-0, on January 7-8, 2000. It was just the fourth time in program history the team managed to score at least 15 goals in back-to-back games.
• Following their record-breaking weekend, Niagara jumped to 15th nationally with an average of 3.50 goals scored per game. Their 42 overall goals also leads Atlantic Hockey.
• Sophomore goaltender Brian Wilson enters the weekend undefeated in his last five appearances (4-0-1), the longest streak of his young career. The last goalie to accomplish that feat for the Purple Eagles was Carsen Chubak, who went 4-0-1 between January 19-February 2, 2013.
• Noah Delmas was named Atlantic Hockey’s Defensive Player of the Week after his second straight five-point series. In his last four games, the junior has 10 points (3 G, 7 A) and is riding the longest multi-point games streak of his career.
• Ludwig Stenlund earned the conference’s Player of the Week award and was also named the Third Star of the Week by the NCAA. The rookie posted six points (3 G, 3 A) and three power play points (2 G, 1 A) against the Golden Griffins.
• In their set against Canisius, Niagara scored more power play goals (4) in two games than they had scored in their previous 10 (3).
• Reed Robinson’s hat trick was Niagara’s first since January 20, 2018, when Stanislav Dzakhovaccounted for half of the team’s tallies in a 6-0 rout over Holy Cross.
• As a team, Niagara paces Atlantic Hockey with the nation’s fifth-best penalty kill (.882).

• Army is coming off a split weekend at Bentley. The Black Knights beat the Falcons, 3-2, on November 16, but dropped the second game, 4-2, the following night.
• The team enters this weekend on a three-game home losing streak. They were swept by Air Force on November 2-3, then lost to Sacred Heart on the front end of a home-and-home. All three losses came by 4-2 margins.
• The Black Knights are the most penalized team in Atlantic Hockey. The squad has been whistled for 68 infractions in 13 games for 177 minutes-worth of penalties.
• Dalton McAfee and Alex Wilkinson share the team lead for points (13) and assists (11). Zach Evancho is the team’s top goal scorer (6).