ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Two third-period goals from Stephen Pietrobon helped the Niagara Purple Eagles earn a 4-4 tie against the RIT Tigers Saturday night at Gene Polisseni Center.
 
The fourth line led the Purple Eagles (3-22-3; 3-16-3 AHA) as Pietrobon, Luke Edwards, and Sam Alfieri combined for five points (3g, 2a) on the night.
 
"Every time they were on the ice they got momentum for us," head coach Dave Burkholder said. "For Stephen to come through like he did and it was probably a career game for Sammy, and then Luke had a power-play goal – that's what it takes. It's only a point, but it feels like a win."
 
A turnover led to an RIT (11-12-5; 10-7-5 AHA) goal early in third period that put Niagara in a 3-1 hole. Niagara tried to clear the puck around the glass, but a strange hop gave the Tigers an open look in front of the net. Niagara cut the lead to one when Stephen Pietrobon scored his third goal of the season three minutes later after the sophomore made a nice play to stickhandle around a sprawling RIT goaltender to find an opening and pull his squad within 3-2. Sam Alfieri assisted on the goal for his fourth point of the season.
 
Hugo Turcotte tied the game 3-3 on a breakaway with 9:36 on the clock. After a scramble in front of the net, Kevin Patterson blocked a shot and sent the Purple Eagles the other way. Isaac Kohls led a streaking Turcotte with a pass high through the air that hit his teammate in stride and the winger went in on net with a defender on his back, but was able to find an open five-hole to score his seventh of the season.
 
Niagara took its first lead of the game with four minutes left in regulation on Pietrobon's second of the night. He and Chris Lochner went in on a 2-on-1 rush just as a NU penalty expired. Pietrobon shook off a defender and went high glove-side with a wrist shot and beat the goalie top-corner to give NU the 4-3 lead. Alfieri again assisted on the play for his second point of the night.
 
The Purple Eagles looked like they were on their way to a victory before a would-be icing was waved off and the Tigers were able to capitalize with the extra attacker and just 30 seconds remaining in regulation. The game went down as a 4-4 tie after a scoreless overtime period.
 
"It's something we can build off of," Burkholder said. "I thought we had a team full of warriors that competed really hard. Unfortunately we had a short bench; we lost Nick Cecere to a knee injury and then Chris Lochner at the end of the second period. You shorten your bench and you ask for more out of these guys, and they gave it to us. We'll take the tie and try to build off of it."
 
Jackson Teichroeb made 43 saves through 65 minutes between the pipes. The NU penalty kill went 5-for-6 on the night while the power-play finished 1-for-4.
 
The Tigers were first on the scoreboard again on Saturday with goals early in each of the first two periods. The first of the night came 5:35 into the game after a NU turnover on a breakout attempt. They took a 1-0 lead into the break and extended the lead to 2-0 1:19 into the second period before Luke Edwards got Niagara on the board with a power-play goal.
 
Edwards set up shop to the right of the RIT net, collected the rebound from an Isaac Kohls shot, and roofed a shot into that beat the goalie over the glove to get the Purple Eagles within 2-1 with 11:51 to go in the period. The tally was the freshman's second of his career.
 
Before the game, there was a ceremonial puck drop as RIT will honored fifth-year student manager Joe Vicario, who is better known as "Part Time Joe". RIT also wore special jerseys that were auctioned off during the game with proceeds going to the Testicular Cancer Foundation of Western New York, which Vicario founded and the Lipson Cancer Center at Rochester General Hospital through the RIT United Way Foundation
 
The Purple Eagles head out on the last weekend road trip of the year next week when the play a pair on Erie, Pennsylvania against Mercyhurst on Friday and Saturday.