Buffalo, N.Y.—The Niagara hockey team returned to Harborcenter Saturday night to close out the weekend series with WNY rival Canisius. After falling 5-2 on Friday night, the Purple Eagles down the Griffs 5-2 on Saturday night.
Game Recap
First Period

• Niagara opened the scoring early in the first period as they scored two goals in the opening five minutes.
• At the 3:29 mark of the opening period, Josef Mysak fed the puck behind the Canisius net. Albin Nilsson helped it to Ryan Naumovski who skated up the side boards and passed it to Mysak at the right point. Mysak deked to his right and ripped a shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the season. It was also his second in the last three games.
• Under a minute later at the 4:26 mark, Niagara struck again. Noah Carlin took a shot that went wide of the net, the puck bounced off the end boards right to Carter Randklev. Randklev passed it to Ryan Cox who was cutting to the net, Cox made no mistake and scored his 10^th goal of the season.
• After the opening 20 minutes, Niagara led 2-0 and were outshooting Canisius 11-9. Niagara also had eight blocks in the opening period including three with less than ten seconds left in the period as they were killing a penalty.

Second Period

• Niagara opened the period, on the penalty kill. Niagara entered the game second in the AHA in shorthanded goals, it took the duo of Christan Gorscak and Glebs Prohorenkovs just 13 seconds to add to their total. Carlin fed the puck up to Gorscak who went of the rush with Prohorenkovs. With a defender draped on him Gorscak fed the puck to Prohorenkovs who hammered it home for the teams fifth shorthanded goal of the season.
• Niagara could not survive the Griff power play as Canisius scored at the 1:02 mark of the period to make it 3-1 Niagara.
• The period was a back and forth period as neither team scored again until the very end. With shots in the period tied at six Prohorenkovs picked up the puck in his own zone with less than 15 seconds left in the period. Mysak joined the rush and Prohorenkovs dropped the puck to him at the Canisius blueline. Mysak skated the puck in and wired a backdoor pass to Prohorenkovs who put it into the empty net with three seconds left on the clock. It was his sixth goal of his freshman season while it was Mysak's 10^th assist.

Third Period

• The Purple Eagles scored their fifth goal of the game at the 9:17 mark of the third period. Shane Ott took a long pass from Lane Brockhoff, Ott nearly lost his balance as he evaded a Canisius defensemen. Once he regained his balance he saw Carter Randklev cutting to the net. He found Randklevs stick, Randklev was stopped twice in tight but scored on this third attempt. It was Randklev's third goal in the last two games, he now leads the team with 11 goals.
• Niagara continued to control play despite Canisius scoring their second goal of the game at the 16:06 mark of the third period.
• Niagara outshot Canisius 12-10 in the third period, while also winning 11 of 21 draws.

Niagara Notes

• Niagara and Canisius both two points in the Battle of the Bridge between the two teams as Niagara looks to retain the Canal Cup for the third straight year.
• Purple Eagle netminder Chad Veltri made 23 saves as he picked up his 12^th win of the season. It was also his 35^th career win which is tied for the most among active AHA goalies.
• Niagara is now 30-31-6 all-time against the Griffs, this is the lone time the two teams will meet in the regular season.
• The Purple Eagles are now 9-0-1 when they scored four or more goals this season. They are also 11-1-1 when they lead after 40 minutes of play.
• Niagara had 30 shots on net and allowed 25, they are 8-4-0 this season when they outshoot their opponents.
• Cox now has 20 points this season and is tied with Casey Carreau for the team lead.
• The Purple Eagles sit in fifth place in the AHA standings just one spot out from hosting an opening round playoff series.

Up Next

• Niagara returns to Dwyer Arena next weekend as they host Army at 5 PM on Friday and 5:30 PM on Saturday.

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