BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles hockey team turned in one of its best efforts of a strong 2017 postseason on Saturday night against the Canisius Golden Griffins at the KeyBank Rink at HARBORCENTER. Trailing 1-0 in the third period, Niagara got a 5-on-3 power-play goal from senior defenseman Vinny Muto to tie the game with 12:06 to play. In the closing minutes, however, Canisius reclaimed the lead on a power play of their own, and Niagara dropped Game Two by a final score of 2-1 in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals.
 
Senior goaltender Jackson Teichroeb made 32 saves to lead the Purple Eagles, yielding only a pair of power-play tallies in the third period. Teichroeb ends his four-year Niagara career ranked second in program history with 2,854 saves, third with seven shutouts, third with 105 games played, and tied for fourth with a .902 save percentage.
 
After defeating the two-time defending champion RIT Tigers in three games in the Atlantic Hockey First Round from March 3-5, the Purple Eagles played two strong games against the AHC's top-seeded Golden Griffins, but fell two games to none in the best of three series.
 
Game Summary

• Final Score: Canisius 2, Niagara 1
• Niagara Goal Scorers: Vinny Muto
• Niagara Assists: Johnny Curran, Sam Rennaker
• In Goal: Jackson Teichroeb (3-17-2) – 2 GA, 32 SV
• Power Plays: Niagara – 1-for-8 (10 SOG); Canisius – 2-for-6 (17 SOG)
• Records: Niagara – 5-31-3; Canisius – 21-10-7
• Location: KeyBank Rink at HARBORCENTER – Buffalo, N.Y.
• Attendance: 851

 
Game Recap

• Both goaltenders, Niagara's Jackson Teichroeb and Canisius' Charles Williams were perfect through 40 minutes of play. Teichroeb made 20 saves throughout the first two periods to Williams' 16.
• Teichroeb highlighted the first period with a strong breakaway stop against Canisius' Matt McLeod just past the 15-minute mark. Shortly after that, Nicolas Carrier broke loose on a breakaway of his own for Niagara and was stoned by Williams.
• Nine minutes into the second period, Stanislav Dzakhov found a 2-on-1 chance rushing in with Johnny Curran but was turned away.
• The Purple Eagles also came up empty as Carrier had another chance all alone with 3:30 to go to the second intermission, as Niko Kovachis forced a turnover at the Canisius blue line and found Carrier alone in front of Williams. The freshman from Quebec attempted to place the puck five-hole past Williams, but the Golden Griffins' netminder closed the door.
• Canisius scored the game's first goal at the 3:38 mark of the third period. Breaking in on a 3-on-2 chance, Felix Chamberland completed a passing play across the slot for the game's first goal.
• After a pair of interference calls to Canisius, Vinny Muto cashed in on a brief 5-on-3 chance to tie the game. Curran fed Muto at the point and senior walked in to the high slot, patiently waiting for an open shot before ripping a wrister bar-down over the glove of Williams to make it 1-1.
• Curran and Keegan Harper had a pair of chances on the second part of the 5-on-3 to give Niagara the lead, but could not find the back of the net.
• The Purple Eagles were sent to the penalty kill with 2:54 to play on a tripping penalty by Keegan Harper. Niagara came close to killing the penalty, but Canisius scored the game-winning goal with 1:15 left in regulation as Ryan Schmelzer redirected Jimmy Mazza's point shot.
• Teichroeb was pulled in favor of the extra attacker in the final minute, but Niagara could not tie the game for a second time, falling 2-1 in Game Two and 2-0 in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal series.

  
Coach's Corner

• Head coach David Burkholder: "We had a lot of guys max out tonight which was great. It was a great college hockey game. We had a couple of good pushes throughout the game. I thought Vinny as the game wore on was unbelievable. Obviously Teichs had a great weekend, it's too bad we didn't get him more support again, but certainly he gave us a chance to take the win."

 
Inside the Numbers

• Vinny Muto's power-play goal gave him his sixth goal of the season, his best single-season mark at Niagara. It was also the 50th point of his career in his 136th game as a Purple Eagle.
• Jackson Teichroeb's 32 saves gave him 30 or more saves in four out of six games to close the 2016-17 season.
• Teichroeb ends his four-year Niagara career ranked second in program history with 2,854 saves, third with seven shutouts, third with 105 games played, and tied for fourth with a .902 save percentage.
• Teichroeb posted a 3.03 goals-against average and .925 save percentage this postseason, giving him a career playoff goals-against average of 2.44 and save percentage of .931.
• With assists on Muto's goal, sophomore forwards Johnny Curran and Sam Rennaker closed the 2017 postseason as Niagara's leading scorers with four points each in five games.
• Niagara put 26 shots on goal Saturday night at Canisius, its most in a game this postseason.
• The Purple Eagles entered Saturday's contest 3-2-1 when allowing two goals or less in a game this season.
• Niagara is now 4-3 when facing elimination in Atlantic Hockey best-of-three play and 6-5 all-time in Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal matchups.
• In an injury-riddled season, Niagara closed the season with 234 man-games lost to injury in 38 games played.
• The Game Two loss brought the collegiate careers of Niagara's five seniors to an end: Muto, Teichroeb, Kevin Patterson, Stephen Pietrobon, and TJ Sarcona.

  
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