Friday: Live Audio | Live Video | Live Stats | Game Notes
Saturday: Live Audio | Live Video | Live Stats | Game Notes 

In their final two of seven road games in the month of January, the Purple Eagles hockey team will fly west to face the Air Force Falcons in Colorado Springs, Colo. Niagara is coming off a weekend where they lost once and tied once against their closest geographical rival, the Canisius Golden Griffins. Air Force is coming off of a 1-0 win and a 1-1 tie at West Point against the Army Black Knights.
 
Opening faceoff is 9:05 p.m. eastern time on Friday, Jan. 22 and 7:05 p.m. eastern time on Saturday, Jan. 23. Jeremy White will have the radio call on 1340 AM WLVL and PurpleEagles.com/Watch, and both games will be streamed on Eversport.
 
Last Time Out
 

• The Purple Eagles failed to earn a win in their Battle of the Bridge series against the rival Canisius Golden Griffins, losing 3-1 on Jan. 14 before an intense, back-and-forth game that ended in a 3-3 tie on Jan. 16.
• Trailing just 1-0 entering the final 10 minutes of Thursday's loss, Canisius scored two goals in a span of 2:28 to break the game open.
• With a power play and the net pulled, Niagara was able to avoid the shutout with 62 seconds remaining in the game. Johnny Curran's shot was deflected by Nick Farmer wide of the net, but Derian Plouffe buried the rebound to score for Niagara.
• A wild second period on Saturday between Niagara and Canisius produced  a 3-3 score after 40 minutes of play. Neither team could break the tie in the third period or overtime to bring home a win.
• Canisius scored 1:12 into the game, but the Purple Eagles responded with 1:08 remaining in the first period. Plouffe picked up a goal in his third straight game with a cannon of a wrist shot to the top right corner.
• Sean King and Tanner Lomsnes scored in the second period to eventually give Niagara a 3-2 lead, but Shane Conacher found the tying goal for Canisius in the closing seconds of the period.
• Jackson Teichroeb made 13 saves in net for Niagara through the third period and overtime to keep the game tied.
• Teichroeb played both games on the weekend, totaling 45 saves.

 
Dynamic Derian
 

• Niagara sophomore center Derian Plouffe has the hot scoring hand in the month of January. Since the turn of the new year, he has four points in six games.
• Plouffe, who leads Niagara in scoring with nine goals and four assists for 13 points in 22 games, has already surpassed his freshman scoring total (five goals, five assists in 32 games).
• With three points in two games against Canisius, Plouffe is now on a three-game point streak (3+1), the first of his career.
• The Shawville, Quebec native is now the second Purple Eagle to net a goal in three straight games this season, after Dan Kolenda did so from Dec. 4 to 11, 2015.
• Additionally, Plouffe leads Atlantic Hockey skaters with 150 faceoffs taken with a .609 faceoff percentage (199-for-327).

 
License to Kill
 

• Since January 1, the Purple Eagles have killed 25 of their opponents' 27 power plays.
• Niagara's 92.6 success rate in that time frame is the 13th-best mark in the nation. However, none of the 12 teams ranked ahead of Niagara have killed more than 17 penalties in 2016.
• Niagara killed off 11 consecutive penalties from Jan. 3 to Jan. 9, the team's second-longest streak of the season after killing off 15 in a row from Nov. 27 to Dec. 12, 2015.

 
Scouting the Falcons
 

• The Air Force Falcons, currently 10-9-3 overall and 8-5-3 against Atlantic Hockey opponents, are fourth in the conference.
• The Purple Eagles lead the all-time series against Air Force, 33-23-4.
• Air Force has won 11 of 18 meetings over the last five years.
• The last time the Purple Eagles won at Air Force was during the  second round of the 2014 Atlantic Hockey postseason. After losing the first game 2-1 on March 14, 2014, Niagara won the next two games by 4-3 scores, with the third game decided in overtime on a goal by Matt Williams.
• Six of Air Force's top seven scorers are sophomores: forwards Jordan Himley, Ben Kucera, Erik Baskin and Tyler Ledford, and defensemen Phil Boje and Kyle Mackey.
• Falcons freshman goaltender Shane Starrett is third in Atlantic Hockey in goals-against average (2.38).

 
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