NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – The Niagara University men’s hockey team (7-12-0) lost, 5-2, to crosstown rival Canisius College (9-9-3) Saturday at Dwyer Arena, extending its home losing streak to three games.
Allowing the most goals to the Golden Griffins in the nine-year history of the crosstown rivalry, the Purple Eagles conceded three second-period goals, helping Canisius extend its lead to 4-1 after two periods.
Niagara head coach Dave Burkholder says his team’s overall commitment to detail must change in order to reverse its recent struggles.
"We’re not very good with our systems right now," Burkholder said. "It could be some of our youth, but there’s a good team sitting in that locker room."
The Purple Eagles seized early momentum when sophomore Sean Bentivoglio (Thorold, Ont.) scored his fifth goal of the season 3:34 into the opening period, giving Niagara a 1-0 lead. Breaking out of the Niagara defensive zone, senior Ryan Gale (St. Catharines, Ont) found a breaking Bentivoglio with a cross-ice pass, hitting the sophomore forward near center ice. Outpacing two Canisius players, Bentivoglio went one-on-one with Golden Griffins goaltender Bryan Worosz, beating the senior goaltender between the legs with a low, decisive shot.
Canisius tied the game at the 7:18 mark of the first period when junior Andrew Dawe drove down the right boards at Niagara goaltender Scott Mollison (Winnipeg, Man.). After Mollison made the save on Dawe’s initial shot, the puck broke loose underneath the pads of the freshman goaltender, allowing Canisius senior Fred Coccimiglio to poke the loose puck into the open net.
The Griffs took control of the game in the second period, benefitting from goals by forwards James Lecuyer, Joel Kitchen and Chris Angelo.
After dumping the puck into the Niagara zone at Mollison, the freshman goaltender mishandled the puck, turning it over to a forechecking Lecuyer. Lecuyer controlled the puck, sliding it into the open net for the go-ahead goal at 7:02 of the middle period.
Canisius never trailed following the Lecuyer goal.
With the score in favor of the Griffs, 4-1, Niagara freshman Matt Caruana (Orono, Ont.) scored his third goal of the season at the 12:09 mark of the final period. Caruana, who leads all Purple Eagle freshmen in scoring with eight points (3 goals, 5 assists), pounced on a loose puck near the right side of the Canisius goal crease, and pushed the puck by Worosz to make the score 4-2 with just under eight minutes remaining in the contest.
Golden Griffins freshman Mike Ruberto, with Mollison in the Niagara net pulled for an extra attacker, scored an empty-net goal at 18:46 of the third period, extending the Canisius lead to three goals.
Although outshooting Canisius, 29-26, in the game, Niagara failed to capitalize on any of its four power-play opportunities.
Worosz (9-6-3) made 27 saves for his ninth win of the season. Mollison (2-4-0) made 21 saves in his fifth start of the season.
Niagara returns to College Hockey America conference play next weekend, hosting Wayne State University at Dwyer Arena Friday and Saturday.
Burkholder said his team’s attitude and work rate must change as they return to conference play.
"We’ve got to get back to outworking teams on a shift-by-shift basis," Burkholder said. "We’ve got a lot of work to do."
