USAF ACADEMY, Colo. – Five consecutive goals led the Niagara men’ hockey team (6-5-0, 4-0-0) to its third-straight win, defeating the Air Force Academy (6-6-0, 0-4-0), 5-2, at Cadet Ice Arena, in USAF Academy, Colo., Saturday.
The story of Saturday’s win, and perhaps the weekend series, is the play of forwards Barret Ehgoetz (Kincardine, Ont.), Jeremy Hall (Mays Landing, N.J.), Chris Welch (Tonawanda, N.Y.) and the entire Purple Eagles first line. The trio combined for six of Niagara’s eight goals in the weekend series, with Ehgoetz leading the way with two goals and four assists for six points in two games. The win, the Purple Eagles fourth College Hockey America conference victory, keeps Niagara in first place in the CHA standings with eight points in conference play.
"We worked hard all weekend," Ehgoetz said. "It’s big (to be 4-0 in the CHA), with two sweeps on the road."
It was Ehgoetz’s second goal of the contest, 21 seconds into the third period, that led Niagara to their sixth victory of the season. Following a shot by teammate Andrew Lackner (Elmira, Ont.), Ehgoetz was able to corral the rebound and wrap a shot past Air Force goaltender Peter Foster to score the game-winning goal for the Purple Eagles.
Down two goals in the second period, tallies by Air Force freshman defenseman Billy Devoney in the first period and forward Theo Zacour in the second, Niagara forged its comeback following a Brian Hartman (Pittsburgh, Pa.) goal at the 5:19 mark of the second. A well-built attack by the Purple Eagles, Ehgoetz carried the puck into the Falcon defensive zone, flipping a pass to a charging Hall on the left wing, who found a wide-open Hartman on the backdoor for the tip into the open Air Force net. The goal was Hartman’s second of the season.
Complementing Hartman’s goal, Ehgoetz followed a shot by junior Ryan Carrigan (Burlington, Ont.) at 13:34 in the second period, tying the game at 2-2. Ehgoetz flipped the rebound off of the Carrigan shot past a sprawling Foster in the Falcon net. For Carrigan, the assist on the Ehgoetz goal is the first points scored for the junior defenseman while at Niagara.
Following Ehgoetz’s second goals - the game-winning tally - Hall scored an insurance goal at 2:28 in the third period, hitting one-time shot from the right circle off a pass from Ehgoetz to score his eighth goal of the season. Sophomore Luke Parillo (Schenectady, N.Y.) also had an assist on Hall’s goal, registering his first point of the season.
Welch, who scored the game-winning goal in the Purple Eagles’ 3-2 overtime win Friday, added an empty net goal with 39 seconds remaining in the contest to complete the sweep of the Falcons and help Niagara earn their fifth-straight victory over Air Force.
In the 5-2 win Saturday, the Purple Eagles were outshot by the Falcons, 39-28, including a 30-20 margin over the final two periods.
Niagara goaltender Jeff VanNynatten (Stratford, Ont.) confidently made a season-high 37 saves for his fourth win of the season and third CHA conference win. The sophomore goaltender, who’s steady play in net paced Niagara in the weekend’s two wins, according to Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder, did not allowing a goal in the final 36:33 of the contest. Foster made 19 saves for the Falcons in the loss, with senior goaltender Mike Polidor making four saves in relief of Foster in the third period.
"I thought Jeff (VanNynatten) kept us in it, as we didn’t get out to a good start," Burkholder said. "Our top line came through again. Barret Ehgoetz single-handily put the game over for another huge conference win."
In the weekend’s two games, Ehgoetz finished with six points, Hall with five and Welch with three points. VanNynatten made 69 saves in the two wins over Air Force, compiling a save percentage of .944 and a goals-against average of 1.96.
Niagara travels to Ferris State for a pair of non-conference games beginning Nov. 28. Game time is set for 7:35 p.m.
