NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. - The Niagara men's hockey team (7-4-2, 5-2-0 AHA) overcame a one-goal deficit to defeat the visiting Colgate Raiders (2-8-1, 0-5-1 ECAC) 4-2 on Tuesday evening at Dwyer Arena. Niagara is now 2-0-0 in Tuesday games, largely in part because of the nation's leading scorer, Niagara senior Paul Zanette.

Zanette notched his 13th and 14th goals of the season for his fourth multi-goal and fifth multi-point game of the season, helping Niagara to the 4-2 victory. Zanette has led a surging Niagara offense that has scored at least four goals in its last seven contests.

"The individual accomplishments are nice, but what is truly important is how the team does," Zanette said. "It's now my time as a senior to be a leader and get things done."

Defense was the name of the game in the first period, when Niagara's starting netminder Carsen Chubak made several huge saves in the period to keep the game scoreless. Chubak made 11 saves during the opening 20 minutes.

Colgate would be the first to score in the second period, when Robbie Bourdon would rip a slapshot past newly-inserted Niagara netminder Chris Noonan on a five-on-three advantage. Five minutes later Niagara would tie the game off of the stick of the nation's leading goal scorer. Senior Bryan Haczyk would find Zanette in the slot, who would rip a shot past the stick of Colgate netminder Alex Evin to knot the game at one.

Niagara continued to be a strong third period team, by netting three in the frame. Sophomore Marc Zanette slammed home a rebound past Evin just 2:01 into the final period to give Niagara a 2-1 lead. After Colgate tied the game at two at the 9:20 mark of the period, the Purps responded in 33 seconds, when senior Ryan Annesley ripped a shot from the point that fooled Evin.

In the waning moments of the game, Zanette added an empty-net marker to ice the game for the Purple Eagles. Niagara has now outscored its foes in the third period of the last six games by a 17-4 margin.

"It was a good win tonight," head coach Dave Burkholder said. "I'm proud of the way the team handled the pressure, especially Chris Noonan. He hasn't played in a while and he stepped up when we needed him to tonight and he came through."

Niagara finished its season-long, five-game homestand with a 4-1-0 record.

The Purple Eagles will take its 6-1-0 record in November games on the road this weekend, as they visit AHA foe Army for a two-game series, starting on Friday at 7:05 p.m.