Niagara University —The Niagara hockey team fell in an Atlantic Hockey matchup to the Bentley Falcons on Friday night, at Dwyer Arena. After jumping out to a two goal lead, Niagara fell 6-3.
Game Recap
First Period
- Neither team struck in the opening ten minutes of the game until Jason Pineo scored his seventh goal of the season at the 12:02 mark of the frame. Pineo took the original breakout pass from David Posma and fed it to Shane Ott. After Ott fell, Pineo went in on net and ripped a shot into the corner of the net. Pineo now has four points in his last three games.
- Niagara wasn’t done in the first period, with less than two minutes left in the opening period, Carter Randklev doubled the Purple Eagle lead. Josef Mysak fed a long stretch pass from behind the net and hit Casey Carreau on the breakaway. Carreau’s shot was stopped but Randklev followed up for his seventh of the season.
- Despite being outshot 14-5 in the opening period, the Purple Eagles led 2-0 after 20 minutes.
Second Period
- At the 3:29 mark of the second period, Bentley solved Chad Veltri to cut the Purple Eagle lead to 2-1.
- Niagara responded less than eight minutes later as Mike Egan was the beneficiary of a Falcon turnover. The Bentley defensemen turned over the puck in the Purple Eagle zone and Egan went on a breakaway. The grad transfer scored his first goal as a Purple Eagle and first Division I goal as he beat the goalie with a deke. The Purple Eagles led 3-1 at the 11:54 mark of the second period.
- Bentley went on to scored three unanswered goals at the 13:40, 14:12, and 19:13 marks of the period and headed into the locker room with a 4-3 lead.
Third Period
- Niagara failed to generate much offense in the third period, as they had 10 shots but could not crack the scoreboard.
- Bentley scored twice at the 5:43 and 12:37 mark to make it 6-3.
Niagara Notes
- Niagara blocked 23 shots in the game as Jonathan Ziskie had a team high four. In total, 13 players blocked a shot including six that blocked multiple shots.
- The 23 blocked shots is tied for the second most the Purple Eagles have had in a game this season. They had a season high 26 on Oct. 7 against Omaha and 23 on Oct. 28 against Mercyhurst.
- Niagara gave up their first hat trick since Oct. 21, 2021, against Penn State.
- Veltri turned away 32 shots, he has now turned away 30 or more shots in nine games this season.
- Niagara went 0-3 on the power play with two shots while Bentley was 1-4 with four shots.
- Lars Rodne, Carreau, and Lucas Bahn had a team high three shots while 14 Purple Eagles had shots.
Up Next
- Niagara and Bentley are back in action tomorrow at 5:30 PM at Dwyer Arena.
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