NIAGARA UNIV. N.Y. - Down by two goals in the second period the Niagara men's hockey team (18-9-4, 10-5-2) battled back, scoring five consecutive goals for a 6-3 victory over the Robert Morris Colonials at Dwyer Arena on Friday night.

After a scoreless first period, RMU scored two goals early in the second period to take the lead. About 10 second after the Colonial's second goal Niagara answered with a goal from the top of the crease by Paul Zanette (Nobelton, Ont.). Egor Mironov (Thornhill, Ont.) tipped the puck up to David Ross (Bowmanville, Ont.) who then got it to Zanette. Zanette's goal changed momentum for the Purple Eagles, which was followed by four more unanswered goals.

"I made a mistake on their second goal," said Zanette. "But coach kept us out there and we made it happen."

Niagara's power-play unit proved once again why they are the 6th-ranked power-play in the country scoring three of the next four goals on the power-play. Mironov marked the first at 12:51 into the second period when he took a slap-shot from the point to tie the game at two goals each. Less than a minute later Niagara scored another power-play goal. Ryan Annesley (Ajax, Ont.) tallied Niagara's third goal who received the puck from Ted Cook (Hogansburg, N.Y.) who picked it up from Kyle Rogers (Erie, Pa.). The Purple Eagle's second period scoring campaign was not over yet with Ryan Olidis (Uxbridge, Ont.) banking Niagara's third goal to give Niagara a one-goal lead. 

Cook tallied Niagara's third power-play goal of the night, picking up the puck off an odd bounce in front of the net. Picking up the assists was co-captains Matt Caruana (Orono, Ont.) and Vince Rocco (Woodbridge, Ont.).

The Colonials ended up sneaking one last goal past Juliano Pagliero (Dalroy, Alb.) at 12:25 of the third period, before pulling their goalie and giving Rocco a clear shot for the net, picking up the empty-net goal for a final score of 6-3.

Ross tallied three assists on the victory, earning his first every career play-maker, and scoring a game-high three points.

With the victory and the recent success for the Purple Eagles, going 7-1-3 over the last 11 games and now two points ahead of Robert Morris in the CHA standings the Purple Eagles are happy as to where they sit at this point in the season.

"We have been playing really well our last five games," said Cook. "We are playing hard, our power-play is clicking, the third and forth lines are chipping in...With all that going for us, its hard to lose. We have a lot of leaders on the team and everyone is moving along as one."

"We are playing really well in February," said coach Dave Burkholder "You need to play well in February to play well in March for tournament time."

Pagliero remains Niagara's defensive back bone stopping 34 shots while Colonials goaltender Christian Boucher made 25 saves.

Niagara looks to the Colonials again for its second game of the two-game series on Saturday March 1 at Dwyer Arena.