Ryan Olidis

HAMDEN, Conn. - The Niagara University men's ice hockey (14-8-1) team pulled off an upset, breaking the longest unbeaten streak in the country (10) in a 5-1 victory at No. 12 Quinnipiac in the TD Banknorth Sports Center on Friday Jan, 25.

Playing their first nationally ranked team of the season, the Purple Eagles knew they had a challenge unlike they have seen yet this year, and it was a challenge that Niagara didn't hesitate to rise to. Niagara opened the scoring with defenseman Dan Sullivan (Scarborough, Ont.) slamming in the first goal of the night off a rebound shot from Bryan Haczyk (Nutley, N.J.). The Bobcats answered the Eagle's call with a power-play goal with about five minutes left in the first period.

Niagara, pressuring Quinnipiac the entire game wouldn't end the period with a tie. On his first goal of his career, and the game-winner, Ryan Olidis (Uxbridge, Ont.) took a hard wrist shot, slipping through a Bobcat defenseman's legs, and advanced the Purple Eagles to a 2-1 lead to end the first stanza.

Scoreless for over half of the second period Matt Caruana (Orono, Ont.) handled a pass from defenseman Scott Langdon (Ancaster, Ont.) and fired a wrist shot, which passed between the legs of linemate Kyle Rogers (Erie, Pa.)and into the Quinnipiac net for a score of 3-1. Continuing the scoring trend, Haczyk had a break into the Bobcats zone, and made a cross-ice pass to Les Reaney (Ceylon, Sask.) who fired a shot for Ryan Annesley (Ajax, Ont.) to fire in the rebound for a 4-1 game.

Juliano Pagliero

The Purple Eagles finished off the offensive conquest with a power-play goal off a one-timer by David Ross (Bowmanville, Ont.) fed by Les Reaney and Chris Moran (Buffalo, N.Y.).

"This game was one of our most thorough efforts in all areas this season," said coach Dave Burkholder. "We got off to such a great start, and took the crowd out of it. We rolled all four lines all night and I couldn't tell our first line from our fourth line."

Niagara goaltender Juliano Pagliero (Dalroy, Alb.) played in one of his best games of the season, stopping 30 Bobcat shots, while only allowing one power-play goal past him.

"We swept Quinnipiac at home last year so I think we had some confidence going into the game," said Pagliero. "We knew it would be difficult to pull off a win in their barn, especially with their national status."

Niagara is back in action on Saturday, Jan. 26 as it finishes off the two-game road series with the Bobcats. The game is set to be broadcast live on the Niagara Sports Network starting at 7:00 p.m.