After months of waiting, and additional weeks of mounting anticipation, the Niagara men's hockey team is prepared to open its 2020-21 season this weekend against RIT. The Purple Eagles are looking to sustain the momentum they built up at the end of last year, and hope their newly-added depth combined with their returning leaders will make for a strong and successful season.

Matchup Preview

• Originally slated to play on November 27-28, this series against the Tigers was set back a week due to COVID-19 protocols.
• These are the first of five scheduled meetings this season between RIT and Niagara. As it stands, the Purple Eagles will bookend their season with home-and-home series against the Tigers, with a single game also set for January 30 in Rochester.
• These two regional rivals met four times last season, with Niagara posting a 1-2-1-1 record in those contests. The first of those meetings, on the road on November 9, 2019, was a thriller that saw Niagara prevail in its first-ever double-overtime 3-on-3 contest. Eric Cooley lit the lamp twice, and both goals were made the rounds on SportsCenter, NHL Network, and were shared through many social media outlets.
• Niagara holds a 3-6-1-1 record at the Gene Polisseni Center since it opened in 2014.
• Since Jason Lammers was named head coach of the Purple Eagles prior to the start of the 2017-18 season, the team holds a 4-4-3-1 mark against the Tigers, including a 3-1-2-0 at Dwyer Arena.
• Overall, Niagara has a 21-14-15-1 record against the Tigers since the two teams first met in 1996.
• Since RIT moved to Division I in 2005, the Purple Eagles are 19-12-13-1 against their I-90 adversaries.

 
Niagara Notes

• The Purple Eagles are coming off a season in which they went 12-18-4-2, and clinched the fifth seed in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament on the last day of the regular season.
• Coming into this year, Niagara was selected fourth in the AHA Preseason Poll, including one first-place vote.
• Jack Billings – Niagara's top scorer from 2019-20 – is among Niagara's top returning point-getters from last season. Eight of the team's top 10 scorers from last year will be back on Monteagle Ridge this season, and the team retains more than 80 percent of its scoring.
• Chris Harpur enters his fourth season in the Purple and White with the captain's "C" on his jersey after serving as an alternate captain for a portion of his junior season. Harpur finished fifth on the team with 12 points (4 G, 8 A) during the 2019-20 campaign.
• Along with Harpur, Niagara's senior class consists of Jared Brandt, Jack Billings, Eric Cooley, Justin Kendall, Jack Zielinski, and Brian Wilson.
• Both of Niagara's top goalies from 2019-20, Wilson and Chad Veltri, will also return this year. There will also be 10 new faces on the ice this winter. Head coach Jason Lammers brought in a seven-man freshman class made up of goaltender Patrick Pugliese, defensemen Jesse Pomeroy and Josef Mysak, and forwards Carter Randklev, Matt Cameron, Christian Gorscak, and Trever Poeze.
• In addition to the freshmen, the remaining newcomers are Mike Corson, Croix Evingson, and Walker Sommer.
  • Corson is a junior goalie who transferred from Denver in the offseason.
  • Evingson, a defenseman from UMass Lowell, came to NU last year but sat out due to transfer restrictions.
  • Likewise, Sommer, an Air Force transfer, will also be eligible to play after sitting out last season.

Scouting The Tigers

• RIT is coming off a season-opening split against No. 9 Clarkson last weekend. The Tigers won a barnburner, 8-5, at home on November 27 before falling on the road two days later by a 5-1 margin.
• Will Calverly scored a hat trick opening night to lead the team in goals (3) through its first two games. His efforts earned him Atlantic Hockey's first Player of the Week award for the 2020-21 season.
• Alden Dupuis holds team highs in points (4) and assists (3) after the team's first series.
• Goaltenders Ian Adriano and Logan Drackett split time, with each player taking one game each against Clarkson. Drackett backstopped the win for the Tigers, while Adriano manned the crease in the team's loss.

 
 
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