BUFFALO — The Niagara hockey team made the short trip south to open a Battle of the Bridge weekend against Canisius. In the opening game of the weekend, the Purple Eagles, fell 5-2 to their WNY foe.
Game Recap
First Period
- Niagara and Canisius played a back and forth opening 20 minutes as shots were favor of Niagara 14-10.
- The Purple Eagles were forced to kill off an early penalty as they headed to the penalty kill just 1:21 into the game. Niagara killed off the penalty, allowing just one Griff shot.
- However, at the 3:58 mark of the first period, the Griffs opened the scoring.
- At the 8:20 mark of the first period, Shane Ott took a breakout pass from Max Ruoho and crossed into the Griff zone. Otts fed it to Carter Randklev who used the Canisius defensemen as a screen and her ripped into the back of the net for his ninth goal of the year.
- Neither team scored in the rest of the period and the teams went to the locker room tied. Niagara went 10-7 in the faceoff circle as Glebs Prohorenkovs went 4-1 to lead the team.
Second Period
- The second period was heavily controlled by the Purple Eagles as they outshot the Griffs 15-6 in the second period.
- Despite all the pressure in the middle frame, Canisius scored just 2:13 into the period to take the 2-1 lead.
- The Purple Eagles had two power plays and generated five shots on the man advantage. Canisius failed to register a shot on their lone power play in the period.
- Niagara dominated in the faceoff circle as they won 18 of 25 draws in the period. Prohorenkovs stayed hot in the dot as he was 9-2 after two periods.
Third Period
- In the third, neither team scored in the first 10 minutes as they played a back and forth game as both teams looked to get the next goal.
- At the 10:57 mark of the period, Canisius scored to make a two goal game on the power play.
- Just 61 seconds later, Niagara made it a one goal game once again. Ryan Naumovski provided a hard fore check and passed the puck to Prohorenkovs who made a one touch pass to Randklev. Randklev buried his 10th goal of the season and he put it into the top corner of the net.
- Canisius answered right back as they scored twice in the next minute to make it a 5-2 game.
- Niagara outshot Canisius 10-9 in the third and 39-25 in the game.
Niagara Notes
- Randklev is the first Purple Eagle to reach 10 goals this season, Randklev leads the team while Ryan Cox sits at nine, three Purple Eagles have seven goals this season.
- The 39 Niagara shots is the second most the Purple Eagles have registered this season in a game, the most was 43 in a 3-2 win over Mercyhurst on Oct. 29.
- The Purple Eagles had 10 shots on the power play while limited Canisius to just two on their three power plays.
- Niagara blocked a season low six shots with Lane Brockhoff and Josef Mysak each having two each. Albin Nilsson and David Posma accounted for the other two.
- It is the fifth time this season that Niagara has allowed 25 or less shots, in those five games Niagara is 3-2-0.
- Naumovski’s assist was his seventh of the season and 47th of his career, he is fifth among active AHA skaters in assists.
- Cox skated in his 138th career game which is fifth among active AHA players and for Naumovski it was his 117th which is 10th among active AHA skaters.
Up Next
- Niagara looks to earn a weekend split tomorrow at 7 PM at Harborcenter against Canisius.
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