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Cross-Town Rivals
Niagara will finish off its regular-series season with cross-town rival Canisius on Thursday night. After a 4-1 win on Tuesday over Canisius, the Purple Eagles are currently tied with the Mercyhurst Lakers for third place with 30 points, holding the tie-breaker after going 2-1-0 against the Lakers earlier this season.
Tickets Still Available!
Seats are still available for Niagara's home game against Canisius on this weekend. Contact the Niagara Ticket Office (located inside Dwyer Arena) at 716-286-TIXX or by emailing Tickets@PurpleEagles.com.
How To Catch The Game
Niagara's game against Canisius will be broadcast on Time Warner Cable Sports Net (Channel 13 Standard / Channel 713 HD). The game will also be broadcast on WJJL 1440 AM. Every game, including Niagara's game against Canisius can also be heard via Niagara All-Access for free, under the Multimedia tab of PurpleEagles.com.
Links for the live audio (WJJL), live video (America One), live stats and game notes are found at the top of the page.
Get To Know Your Foe: Canisius
The Canisius Golden Griffins enter this game with a 9-12-3 record, going 9-18-4 in AHA play. The Golden Griffins currently are in ninth place with 21 points.
The Golden Griffins are led by sophomores Kyle Gibbons (11-15-26) and Taylor Law (11-12-23), while getting strong play from sophomore Ben Danford (1-12-13).
Sophomore Tony Capobianco will likely earn the nod to play between the pipes, earning a 5-9-2 record with a 2.91 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
Battle of the Bridge
Since the 2006-07 season, Niagara and Canisius have upped their rivalry by introducing the Battle of the Bridge series. Each contest between the rival schools would count for points, with the winner taking home the Canal Cup for a year. In the 2011-12 standings, Niagara leads Canisius by a 11.5-6.5 margin after Tuesday’s men’s hockey game.
Defense Wins Championships
Niagara has allowed 15 goals in its last 11 games, the least amount of goals given up over that span in the nation. The Purple Eagles enter Thursday night’s game with the 11th ranked defense in the nation, giving up 2.35 goals per contest. The Purple Eagles are third in Atlantic Hockey in team defense, behind RIT (2.10) and Air Force (2.28).
National Noonan
Senior goalie
Chris Noonan is currently in the nation’s top-20 in three statistical categories. Noonan’s season GAA of 1.72 is second best, his .940 save percentage is tied for first place and he is in 16th place in goalie winning percentage (.632).
Gotta Love Murph
Sophomore
Ryan Murphy has done well so far in February, having scored four goals, three assists and seven points in five games so far. Niagara is 2-1-0 when he scores.
Back-To-Back 20 Point Seasons
Niagara’s
Ryan Rashid is the first student-athlete since
Bryan Haczyk and
Paul Zanette acheived the feat during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
