BUFFALO — This weekend, Niagara reignites the season series with Battle of the Bridge rival Canisius in the best-of-three Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal round at KeyBank Rink at HARBORCENTER. The series begins on at 7:35 p.m. Friday and continues with a second game at 8:05 p.m. Saturday. If necessary, a decisive Game Three will be played at 6:35 p.m. on Sunday.
Fans can tune in to 1340 AM WLVL to catch all the action this weekend. Jeremy White will handle the play-by-play duties for Friday and Saturday, with Paul Hamilton calling Game Three if necessary on Sunday. Saturday’s Game Two will be regionally televised on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (Ch. 52 and 323 in Buffalo) with Kevin Sylvester on play-by-play and Randy Schultz on color. Web streaming packages are available through AtlanticHockey.tv, with single games priced at $12 and full tournament packages at $39.
The Niagara hockey team knocked out the two-time defending Atlantic Hockey champion RIT Tigers last weekend in a thrilling three-game series. The Purple Eagles picked up a last-minute, come-from-behind 5-4 win to take Game One in the series. After losing 5-0 to RIT in the second game, Niagara took a 2-0 lead in the first four minutes of Game Three and never looked back, wrapping up the series with a 4-1 victory.
Niagara and Canisius have faced off five times before in the Atlantic Hockey postseason prior to this season’s quarterfinal series. Canisius holds a 4-1 lead in the all-time playoff series. Last season, the Purple Eagles took a 1-0 lead in an AHC First Round series with a 3-2 victory, but Canisius came back with wins of 1-0 and 4-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. Canisius defeated Niagara 5-3 in the 2013 Atlantic Hockey Semifinals, and the Golden Griffins also won 6-3 in a 2011 first-round matchup at Dwyer Arena.
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