NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – After sweeping Sacred Heart on the road earlier in the season, the Niagara Purple Eagles hockey team's efforts to win their fourth consecutive game against the Pioneers were thwarted with Sacred Heart defeating Niagara, 7-1, on Friday night at Dwyer Arena. Kris Spriggs scored his third goal of the season in the third period, while Niko Kovachis and Noah Delmas each recorded assists.

Game Summary

• Final Score: Sacred Heart 7, Niagara 1
• Niagara Goal Scorers: Kris Spriggs
• Niagara Assists: Noah Delmas, Niko Kovachis
• In Goal: Guillaume Therien (2-2-0) – 6 GA, 18 SV, Joe O'Brien - 1 GA, 0 SV
• Power Plays: Sacred Heart– 1-for-8 (5 SOG); Niagara – 1-for-8 (4 SOG)
• Records: Sacred Heart– 8-16-4 (6-12-4 AHC); Niagara -11-17-3 (10-12-3 AHC);
• Location: Dwyer Arena – Niagara University, New York
• Attendance: 737  

Game Recap

• The first power play of the game came early in the first period for Niagara when Sacred Heart's Russlan Rakhmatov was called for elbowing. The Purple Eagles were unable to take an early lead despite the two minutes with a man advantage.
• Sacred Heart started the scoring for the evening at the 11-minute mark in the first. Jackson Barliant was able to slap a rebound off a Christian Lloyd initial shot past Guillaume Therien to give the Pioneers the early lead, 1-0.
• With 5:42 to go in the first period, the Purple Eagles found themselves down a man for the first time of the game when Noah Delmas was called for holding. 30 seconds later, Chris Harpur was called on a hooking penalty, giving Sacred Heart a five-on-three advantage. Despite 90 seconds being down two men on the ice, Niagara held its ground and kept the deficit at a single goal. A Rakhmatov charging penalty gave Niagara a power play opportunity in the last 41 seconds of the period but went into the intermission still trailing by a goal.
• The Purple Eagles continued that penalty in the first 1:19 in the period, but were unable to tie the score early in the second period.
• Despite having nearly back-to-back power plays early in the second half, a Pioneer shorthanded goal by Jordan Kaplan added to Sacred Heart's lead less than eight minutes into the second period, 2-0.            
• With a slew of penalties in the final minutes of the second period, Sacred Heart furthered its lead when an Austin Mcllmurray slap shot gave the Pioneers another goal with just 1:15 to play in the second.   
• In the final minute of the second period, a Derian Plouffe major penalty gave Sacred Heart five minutes with a man advantage. Sacred Heart made it 4-0 1:51 into the final period
• With the Purple Eagles still working through the major penalty, a pair of Sacred Heart penalties quickly resulted in a four-on-three man advantage for Niagara. Kris Spriggs scored on the power play thanks to Niko Kovachis and Noah Delmas for Niagara's first goal of the game 3:35 into the third period, trailing by a score of 4-1.
• Sacred Heart responded quickly with back-to-back goals, their second and third shorthanded goals of the evening, to push the differential up to five goals, leading 6-1.
• With 10:08 to play, Joe O'Brien replaced Therien in goal for Niagara, but Sacred Heart was able to score once more to close out the game with a six-goal lead, with a final score of 7-1.

 
Inside the Numbers

• With his third period goal, Kris Spriggs recorded his third goal of the season and his first goal in his last four games. Spriggs, along with teammate Stanislav Dzakhov, led the Purple Eagles in goals last season with nine apiece.
• Noah Delmas has continued to be a main contributor for the Purple Eagles, adding another assist on the goal to Spriggs. Delmas, who came into the game tied for second in the country in scoring by a defenseman with 26 points (23 of which are assists), is also tied with teammate with Derian Plouffe for the team lead in power-play points with 14.
• Niko Kovachis recorded his sixth assist of the season Friday night, his first assist in his last 11 games. Kovachis, a junior for the Purple Eagles, has now recorded at least six assists in each of his three seasons playing for Niagara.
• The loss snaps Niagara's three game winning streak over Sacred Heart, with Niagara continuing to lead the all-time series with a record of 13-6-2.

 
Up Next

• Niagara closes out their play against the Sacred Heart Pioneers on Saturday, Feb. 10 at Dwyer Arena, with puck drop scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Lars Lewis will have the play-by-play duties on WLVL 1340 AM.

Stay connected with the Purple Eagles through social media. Follow Niagara Athletics on Twitter @NUPurpleEagles and for hockey updates, follow Niagara hockey on Twitter and Instagram. Check in with the Purple Eagles on Facebook.com/PurpleEagles and on Instagram @NUPurpleEagles.