NIAGARA UNIV. N.Y. - The Niagara men's hockey team extended its home-unbeaten streak Saturday with a 3-1 victory over Sacred Heart. This wins puts the Purple Eagles tied for fifth all-time for the longest home-unbeaten streak with 22 games, and continues the nations longest active home-unbeaten streak.

Tied halfway through the third period Niagara realized that it needed to do something to keep its streak alive, and that something came on a power play, with a centering pass from Vince Rocco (Woodbridge, Ont.) to Egor Mironov (Thornhill, Ont.) for a one-timer and the game winning goal.

Starting off the scoring was Ted Cook (Hogansburg, N.Y.) nearing the end of the first period with a power play goal off a pass from Les Reaney (Ceylon, Sask.) and Chris Moran (Buffalo, N.Y.). This gave Niagara the energy it were looking for to build off its 4-2 win from the previous night.

Ending the night in a similar fashion as the first game in the series, an empty net goal by Vince Rocco from Matt Caruana (Orono, Ont.) advanced the Purple Eagles to a 3-1 victory over the Pioneers.

"We had another great third period,' said coach Dave Burkholder. " We persevered and made a couple huge plays. I give the credit to our guys for keeping the streak alive."

Getting the start, and the win was Freshman goaltender Adam Avramenko (Strathmore, Alb.), who sits 2-1-0 on the season, stopped 29 shots, while Sacred Heart goalie Oliver St. Onge made saved 35.

Niagara now sits tied with Michigan Tech who went unbeaten at home from Nov. 28, 1975 to Oct. 22, 1976 for a total of 22 games.

Niagara continues its six game home stand back at Dwyer Arena on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 when they host CHA rival Bemidji State to continue College Hockey America play.