Box Score

NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. - The Niagara men's hockey team (2-3-2; 1-1-1 AHA) battled back with four unanswered goals to beat the Holy Cross Crusaders (2-3-0; 1-2-0 AHA), 4-2, for its second straight win on Friday evening at Dwyer Arena.  

Junior Giancarlo Iuorio completed the Purple Eagles comeback with 13:27 remaining in the game.  Freshman Isaac Kohls tossed the puck towards the Holy Cross net, where Iuorio was waiting to bank in the rebound past goalie Matt Ginn for his first goal as a Purple Eagle.  Junior Marc Zanette also assisted on the game winner for his first helper of the season.  

"Giancarlo is off to a great start," said head coach Dave Burkholder.  "He's second on the team in shots coming into the game.  He's having one of those seasons where he's not getting the bounces.  Hopefully this makes up for the couple that he probably deserved earlier in the season.  Our big guys need to be big and he came through when he needed him."  

The Crusaders got on the board first, netting one after 15:44 minutes of play in the opening period.  Junior Rob Linsmayer skated into the Purple Eagle zone on a 2-on-1, lifting the puck over the shoulder of netminder Cody Campbell.  With less than 20 seconds left in the period, Holy Cross capitalized on the man advantage to make it a two goal game.  Seven seconds into the charging penalty called on sophomore Ryan Murphy, Adam Schmidt wristed a low shot past the stick side of Campbell.  Despite falling behind, the Purple Eagles outshot the Crusaders 12-11.  

The Purple Eagles dictated play in the second stanza, outshooting the Crusaders 13-7.  Niagara saw their deficit cut in half 6:36 into the period during their third powerplay of the game.  Iuorio circled the net, finding the open Kevin Ryan who one timed it past the goalie.  It was Ryan's first goal of the season.  Less than three minutes later, freshman Sam Alfieri evened the game, after a slapshot from Mike Benedict rebounded straight to the incoming Alfieri who ripped the puck past the outstretched Ginn.  

"I was very happy with the response," added Burkholder.  "The first period was a pretty even period.  We outshot them, but we had a couple mistakes that shouldn't happen.  The great news is that the last forty minutes we slowly took the game back."

Junior Jeff Hannan added an empty netter to secure the win.  

Campbell pushed aside 19 shots.  The Purple Eagles are now 6-1 against Holy Cross and 3-0 against the Crusaders at Dwyer.    

The Purple Eagles look to sweep the two-game conference series against the Crusaders tomorrow at Dwyer Arena.  The puck is set to drop at 7:05 p.m.  Tickets are still available, by calling the Niagara Ticket Office at 716-286-TIXX or by emailing Tickets@PurpleEagles.com. 

(Check out the postgame pressconference with head coach Dave Burkholder and Giancarlo Iuorio)