WORCESTER, MASS. - Powered by his first collegiate hat-trick, senior Bryan Haczyk led the Niagara men's hockey team (11-6-2, 8-4-0 AHA) to a 5-2 victory over the Holy Cross Crusaders (6-11-2, 5-5-2 AHA) at the Hart Center on Friday evening. Niagara is now 5-0-0 all-time against the Crusaders and have scored at least four goals in 12 of their last 13 games.

The senior from Nutley, N.J. with the nickname of "Hacker," scored three points against Crusaders, tying his career-high from the 6-5 overtime victory against Canisius earlier this season. Haczyk notched Niagara's second hat-trick of the season, with fellow senior Paul Zanette scoring three goals in a 4-1 defeat of RIT on Nov. 19.  

"Anyway I can help the team provides a great feeling," Haczyk said. "Tonight I was in the right place at the right time. I couldn't of done this without my teammates helping me find the back of the net."

Niagara men's hockey head coach Dave Burkholder couldn't have been happier with Haczyk and the rest of his Purple Eagles after the 5-2 win.

"Tonight was a very even game," Burkholder said. "We had a three-minute span that decided the game in our favor. Haczyk was the catalyst up front with his hat-trick. His line was a big part of our success."

The Purple Eagles are now 5-1-2 after scoring first, when Haczyk netted his 11th of the season halfway through the opening period, pushing his consecutive games point scoring streak to 15 games. The Crusaders would tie the game five minutes later, but Haczyk gave Niagara a 2-1 lead in the waning moments of the opening period.

Holy Cross would tie the game again at 2-2 nearly eight minutes into the period, which the Purps would respond by scoring three straight goals to take control of the game. Niagara would net three goals in a 1:48 span, starting with freshman Patrick Divjak's marker at the 10:31 mark of the middle stanza, which was followed up by Haczyk's hat-trick goal at the 11:54 mark. Senior David Ross would score his third goal of the season to cap off the set of quick goals scored by the Purple Eagles.

Freshman netminder Cody Campbell earned the win in his very first collegiate game, making 35 saves. Senior blueliner Ryan Annesley netted a career-high three assists in the win, while he tied his career-high with three points.

"In his first collegiate start, Cody looked like a veteran in net," Burkholder said. "Campbell kept us in the game for most of the night, including a stretch where we were outshot 24-13 in the last fourty minutes of the game."

The Purple Eagles complete their two-game series with Holy Cross on Saturday evening at 5:05 p.m.