- In a two game, home-and-home series with the Mercyhurst Lakers, the Purple Eagles fought to a 2-2 tie on both Feb. 12 and 13.
- The series opened on Friday at Dwyer Arena. Jackson Teichroeb handled the goaltending duties, stopping 30 of 32 shots.
- Johnny Curran picked up his second goal of the season on a long shot from the high slot, tying the game at 1-1 in the second period.
- Mercyhurst regained the lead just minutes after Curran's goal, but Derian Plouffe put a low shot home with 0.8 seconds left in the second for the tying tally.
- Niagara was able to open the scoring Saturday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center, as Stanislav Dzakhov scored his third of the season about 13 minutes into the game.
- Mercyhurst tied the game less than two minutes after Dzakhov's goal and took the lead at the 6:20 mark of the second period.
- Niagara got the game-tying goal with less than eight minutes left in the second. Sam Rennaker set up along the right wing boards and fired a shot that beat Mercyhurst's Brandon Wildung along the ice.
- The Purple Eagles came out firing on all cylinders in the third period, outshooting the Lakers 19-9, but they could not find a game-winning goal in regulation.
- Niagara was outshot 5-2 in the overtime period as the two teams skated to a tie.
- Guillaume Therien turned in one of his best performances of the season, finishing the night with 33 saves.
A Class Of Their Own
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- On Saturday, the 1999-00 Niagara hockey team is being inducted into the Niagara Athletics Hall of Fame.
- The 1999-00 team was one of four Niagara teams to make the NCAA tournament, and the only one to advance to the Elite Eight.
- Niagara stunned 1998-99 NCAA runner-up New Hampshire 4-1 in the first round of the tournament before losing to eventual champion North Dakota.
- Niagara won the inaugural College Hockey America tournament that season, led by a roster with 15 seniors who were a part of the Purple Eagles' inaugural team in 1996-97.
- On October 20, 1999, Niagara earned the program's first national ranking at No. 15 in the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll.
The Home Stretch
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- Niagara is off to a strong start in February, recording a record of 2-0-2 to earn six of a possible eight points over four games.
- The Purple Eagles earned their second shutout of the season by blanking AIC 2-0 on Feb. 5, then scored their most goals in a game since Dec. 4 with four tallies in a 4-3 win the next night for the weekend sweep.
- The Purple Eagles then got great goaltending from both Jackson Teichroeb and Guillaume Therien in back-to-back 2-2 ties with Mercyhurst on Feb. 12 and 13.
- Throughout the month of February (four games), Niagara is scoring 2.50 goals per game while giving up just 1.75 goals per game.
Goaltenders Making Strides
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- A big factor in Niagara's team improvement over the past month has been the play of both goaltenders, Jackson Teichroeb and Guillaume Therien.
- In the last four weeks, Teichroeb went 2-3-1 with a 2.28 goals-against average, .929 save percentage, and one shutout.
- After an inconsistent start to the season, Therien's play has drastically improved. In the last four weeks, the freshman recorded a 2.06 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.
Scouting the Tigers
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- The RIT Tigers, currently 13-7-4 in Atlantic Hockey and 13-12-5 overall, are holding on to third place in the conference.
- Niagara won its first game of the season series at RIT in a 2-0 shutout on Dec. 11, but lost to the Tigers 4-2 at home on Dec. 12.
- The 2-0 shutout victory was the first start of the season for Jackson Teichroeb, who missed the season's first 14 games to injury.
- Tanner Lomsnes led Niagara scorers with one goal and two assists in this season's first two games against RIT.
- RIT is just 1-2-3 over its last six games since winning seven of eight to start the 2016 calendar year.
- Last weekend, the Tigers split a home series with AIC, losing 5-4 on Feb. 12 before earning a 3-2 win on Feb. 13.
- The Tigers lead Atlantic Hockey in shots on goal margin per game this season with a plus-6.80 mark (33.8 for/27.0 against).
- RIT is last in the conference in team save percentage (.892).
