NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. - The Niagara men's hockey team (17-12-3, 14-10-1 AHA) dropped a tough 6-3 decision to the rival Canisius Golden Griffins (10-16-6, 9-11-5 AHA) on Saturday night in front of season-high 1,881 fans at Dwyer Arena.

"They made plays tonight and we didn't," Head Coach Dave Burkholder said. "We fell into a hole that was big. They had their legs moving and outworked us."

Canisius jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, starting with a point shot tipped past junior netminder Chris Noonan by Taylor Law at the 6:03 mark. Over eight minutes later Canisius doubled its lead on the man-advantage, courtesy of Vincent Scarsella.

The Golden Griffins would take a 4-0 lead after just eight minutes of play. Freshman Scott Arnold would put Niagara on the board at the 7:48 mark of the second period, putting home a Ryan Annesley rebound. Canisius would respond a short time later, taking a 5-1 lead. Freshman Ryan Rashid would round out a crazy second period with a power play goal, beating Canisius netminder Dan Morrison to cut the lead to 5-2.

Junior Clark MacLean gave Niagara some life, scoring his first goal as a Purple Eagle at the 7:08 mark of the third period to cut the Canisius lead to 5-3. Niagara would come no closer despite outshooting Canisius 20-10 in the third period, as Scarsella added his second of the game, scoring on the empty net to finish off the game.

With his assist on Rashid's goal, senior Paul Zanette is just one point away from becoming the newest member of Niagara's 100-Point Club, while one goal away from becoming the 10th member of the Niagara 50 Goal - 50 Assist Club.

With the result of the game and how Niagara's swimming & diving team fared in the MAAC Championships, the Purple Eagles currently hold a slim 12-11 lead in the 2010-11 Battle of the Bridge Series. Niagara needs 4.5 points to retain the Canal Cup this year.

Niagara wraps up its first regular season in Atlantic Hockey with a home and home series against RIT, beginning on Friday, Feb. 25 at 7:35 p.m. in Rochester. Friday's game will be a national broadcast on CBS College Sports.