Box Score

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The No. 13 Niagara hockey team dropped a 5-2 decision to Air Force on Friday evening at the Cadet Ice Arena as the Falcons erased a two-goal deficit with five unanswered goals.  

“Other than the efforts of Hugo Turcotte who really played fast and hard, we don’t have a lot of positive to go on from tonight,” head coach Dave Burkholder said.  “Obviously Air Force is a great team and they really took it to us.  We have to regroup and be ready for tomorrow.”

Despite being outshot 14-7 in the opening 20 minutes of play, the Purple Eagles (21-7-5; 20-4-2 AHA) went into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead off a pair of goals from Hugo Turcotte. 

The rookie started the scoring at the 11:15 mark with a short-handed tally on Niagara’s second shot of the game.  The Purple Eagle forecheck forced a turnover in the Air Force defensive end, which Turcotte picked up and slapped past AF goaltender Jason Torf for his sixth of the season. 

A little over two minutes later the centerman struck again to make it 2-0, this time ripping a rolling puck just inside the blue line over the shoulder of Torf for his first two-goal game as a Purple Eagle.  C.J. Chartrain and Sam Alfieri pocketed assists on the play.  

It did not take long for the Falcons (16-11-7; 14-7-5 AHA) to cut the lead in half as Scott Holm netted his eighth score of the year while on the power play.  Chad Demers passed the puck across the blue paint to Holm who barely snuck a shot under the pads of NU goalie out Carsen Chubak to make it 2-1.

Air Force continued to dictate play in a physical second period, as it heavily outshot the Purps 24-7 in the frame.  Niagara saw its two-goal cushion disappear at the midway point of the second as AF knotted the game at 2-2 off the stick of Stephen Carew.  

The Falcons broke the deadlock just 26 seconds in the final 20 minutes of the game.  The  goal was credited to Cole Gunner after his initial shot to the left of Chubak was saved, but the rebound bounced off an NU player and trickled over the goal line.  

Kyle De Laurell added an empty net tally and Mike McDonald solidified the victory with another score with just seven seconds left on the clock to hand the Purps their fourth conference loss of the season. 

Chubak wrapped up the game with a career-high 45 saves.   

Niagara looks to bounce back against Air Force when the two teams do battle again Saturday night in the regular-season finale at Cadet Ice Arena.  Puck drop is set for 9:05 p.m. ET.