NIAGARA UNIVERSITY MEN'S HOCKEY
Niagara Purple Eagles (0-0-0, 0-0-0 AHA) at Minnesota Golden Gophers (1-1-0, 0-0-0 Big Ten)
GAME 1	Friday, October 18 | 8 PM
GAME 2	Saturday, October 19 | 8 PM
LOCATION	3M Arena at Mariucci - Minneapolis, MN
LIVE VIDEO	foxsportsgo.com
LIVE AUDIO	PurpleEagles.com
LIVE STATS	Sidearm Stats
TV	Fox Sports North
RADIO	1340 AM / 105.3 FM WLVL

The Niagara men's hockey team is set to open its 2019-20 season at the University of Minnesota. The Purple Eagles are looking to sustain the momentum they built up at the end of last year, and will be put to the test against a perennial Big Ten contender.

Matchup Preview

• Niagara opens its season with the first of three non-conference road trips. This will be the third occasion in which the Purple Eagles travel to Minnesota to face off against the Golden Gophers.
• Minnesota has beaten the Purple Eagles in each of the three previous meetings. The No. 3 Gophers swept a two-game series in January 2006. In December 2011, Niagara lost its most recent matchup, 5-1, to second-ranked Minnesota.
• The Purple Eagles are 1-4-1 all-time in the Twin Cities. The upstart 1999-00 squad upset No. 7 New Hampshire in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 24, 2000. The next night, they bowed out of the big dance with a loss to No. 2 North Dakota.

 
Niagara Notes

• The Purple Eagles are coming off a season in which they went 17-19-5 and made it to the championship game of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament. Entering 2019-20, the team was picked to finish second in the conference.
• Last season's freshman class led the nation in scoring. The 10 skaters from last season's rookie class accounted for 50 goals and 75 assists, 42 more points than the next-closest AHA team's first-year players.
• Ludwig Stenlund was Niagara's top scorer in 2018-19, producing 42 points (23 G, 19 A) in 41 games. Stenlund was named Atlantic Hockey's Rookie of the Year and was runner-up for the Tim Taylor Award, given to the nation's top freshman. The Swede tied for the national lead in power play goals (10) as well as shorthanded goals (3).
• After serving as an alternate captain as a junior, Noah Delmas was named team captain in May. Delmas posted 40 points (15 G, 25 A) last season, and ranked fourth in the country for defenseman scoring.
• Stenlund, Delmas, and Eric Cooley each participated in NHL development camps during the offseason. Stenlund spent time with the New York Islanders, Delmas with the Carolina Hurricanes, and Cooley with the Buffalo Sabres.
• Brian Wilson is the team's lone returning goaltender. Wilson played the bulk of time in net last year, going 15-14-5 with a goals-against average of 2.77. This season, Wilson's partner in the crease will be freshman Chad Veltri.
• Jason Lammers returns for his third season as the team's head coach. Lammers has improved Niagara's winning percentage in each of the first two seasons at the helm, as Niagara went from five overall wins in 2016-17 to 17 last year.
• Under Lammers, the Purple Eagles are 5-1-0 when traveling outside the Eastern time zone. All six games have been played at Air Force.
• This series is a homecoming of sorts for Dylan Mills, who hails from Cottage Grove, just a 21-mile drive from 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Scouting The Golden Gophers

• Minnesota is coming off an opening weekend split at Colorado College. The Gophers dropped the first game, 3-2, before bouncing back to take the second by a 4-3 score.
• The team received 33 votes in the October 14 USCHO poll, a 20-point drop from the season-opening poll in which they earned 53.
• With 19 underclassmen on its roster, Minnesota is the youngest team in college hockey (average age of 20 years, 240 days).
• Brandon McManus is the team's top returning scorer. McManus finished tied for fourth on the Gophers' roster with 26 points (14 G, 12 A) as a freshman.
• Both goalies on the Minnesota roster are new to the university. Jack LaFontaine, a Carolina Hurricanes prospect, transferred after previously playing at Michigan. Freshman Jared Moe, who is in the Winnipeg Jets system, was previously on the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks.
• The goalies each got a game in during the trip to Colorado Springs. Both players gave up three goals each, but Moe earned the lone opening weekend win.

 
 
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