COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The sixth-seeded Niagara Purple Eagles dropped a 2-1 contest to third-seeded Air Force on Friday evening in game one of the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal series in at the Cadet Ice Arena. 

Senior Patrick Divjak tallied the team's only goal.  Freshmen Jackson Teichroeb guarded the net for Niagara; recording 35 saves, while his counterpart, Jason Torf made 26 stops in the two teams' first meeting in the postseason.

"Our theme tonight was desire over excuses and I thought desire won out.  We had a really good road game against a good team," head coach Dave Burkholder said.  "Air Force made a couple plays on the rush and converted on them which was the difference in the game.  I thought the second period we pushed the pace, and had our chances.  It was a good effort from a team that left it all on the ice."

After battling through a scoreless first period, Air Force forward Cole Gunner opened the scoring 6:28 into the second.  Junior Chad Demers raced into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 with Gunner, dishing off to his teammate who tucked the puck inside the near post before Teichroeb could get there. 

Niagara only needed 30 seconds to even the game as Divjak grabbed goal number three of the season as the junior won the race for the puck at the blue line, going backhand to forehand before lifting the tying goal over the shoulder of Torf. 

Max Hartner gave the Falcons their second lead of the game at 9:43 of the period as George Michalke slid a feed across the slot for the one-timer that beat Teichroeb glove-side.  The sophomore's fourth goal of the year stood as the game-winning tally.    

Air Force came out buzzing in the final period of regulation, as several good chances were pushed aside by Teichroeb or blocked by the NU defense.  Teichroeb continued to make big saves for the Purple Eagles as the stanza wore on and eventually skated to the bench with 1:40 remaining for the extra man, but NU was unable to get the puck past Torf,

Overall, Air Force held the shot advantage, 37-27.  Niagara was 0-for-2 with the man-advantage, while Air Force was 0-for-3.

The two teams will meet once again on Saturday night in game two of the AHA Quarterfinal series at 9:05 p.m. ET.  If game three is necessary, it will take place on Sunday at 9:05 p.m. ET.