BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Purple Eagles hockey team and the Canisius Golden Griffins kicked off the annual Battle of the Bridge series Thursday night at the new HARBORCENTER facility. Though the game was scoreless for more than half of regulation time, Canisius found the first goal late in the second period and broke it open in the third, sending Niagara to a 3-1 loss.
 
Derian Plouffe scored the lone goal of the night for the Purple Eagles on a power-play tally with 1:02 left in regulation. Nick Farmer and Johnny Curran picked up assists, and Jackson Teichroeb stopped 14 of 17 shots in the loss.
 
"I thought in the first and second period, [Canisius] played uninterested, but they are opportunistic," head coach Dave Burkholder said. "I liked our start to the game. 5-on-5 in the first period, we controlled a high percentage of the shifts from our count. Obviously, it just wasn't enough."
 
Plouffe's goal came in closing minutes on a 6-on-4 power play chance. Teichroeb was pulled from the net, and Canisius' David Parrottino was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for a hit to the head of Nick Cecere. Curran and Farmer each had chances at the puck as the Purple Eagles swung the play to the left wing, but Plouffe gathered the puck to the left of Canisius netminder Simon Hofley and got a beneficial bounce for the goal.
 
The first period featured a lot of back-and-forth action, as each team had numerous power-play chances in the opening 20 minutes. The Purple Eagles had a great opportunity on a five-minute power play late in the opening stanza as Canisius' Cody Boyd got a major penalty and game misconduct for running into Teichroeb. However, the power play was almost entirely negated by Niagara penalties to Keegan Harper and TJ Sarcona during the ensuing man advantage.
 
Niagara nearly tied the game in the opening minute of period two, as Plouffe floated a pass to Curran on the back door, but the rookie was turned away. The Purple Eagles outshot Canisius 13-4 in the second period, but the Griffs scored the only goal of the middle stanza. With 6:13 left in the period, Ralph Cuddemi drove the net for Canisius, and his shot went into the air off an errant stick. The puck bounced into the net over Teichroeb to put the Purple Eagles behind 1-0.
 
Canisius added two more goals to their lead in the third period. Dylan McLaughlin dropped a pass into the slot that ended up in a perfect spot for Shane Conacher to one-time a shot over the right shoulder of Teichroeb. Curran had another high-quality chance as Hofley was sprawled on the ice in front, but the Canisius goaltender just clipped the shot high over the net with the glove.
 
Shortly after that, McLaughlin would make it 3-0 Canisius, and the hit to Cecere that drew the final power play of the evening gave Niagara one more chance. Plouffe was able to convert, as Niagara finished 1-for-7 on the power play for the second consecutive game. Niagara's penalty kill also killed off all four Canisius chances, moving to 20-for-22 (91.0 percent) in five games since the start of the 2016 calendar year.
 
Niagara and Canisius hit the ice one more time on Saturday afternoon, as the HARBORCENTER will once again be the stage for a Battle of the Bridge matchup. Opening faceoff for that game is set for 3:05 p.m. The game will again be broadcast on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel, with radio on 1340 AM WLVL and PurpleEagles.com/Watch.
 
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