Hamilton, N.Y.—The Niagara hockey team fell to reigning ECAC champion Colgate on Saturday night by a score of 2-1. The two teams split the weekend series with Niagara winning 5-2 on Friday night.
First Period
Colgate held the puck in the Niagara zone but high-quality shots were limited in the first period.
The Raiders opened the scoring at the 16:33 mark of the period.
Niagara had six shots in the first period while they also limited Colgate to no shots on their lone power play in the opening period.
Second Period
Niagara earned a power play at the 3:21 mark of the period. The Purple Eagles forced a turnover deep in the Colgate zone with Glebs Prohorenkovs coming out of the corner with the puck. Prohorenkovs passed the puck to Shane Ott who found Carter Randklev in front of the net. Randklev made a drop pass between his legs and Jay Ahearn skated into the shot at the 3:56 mark. His shot beat the Colgate goalie to give Ahearn his fifth goal of the season. It was Randklev's seventh assist of the season while it was Ott's fourth assist.
Neither team scored the rest of the period as shots were nearly even at 12-11 in favor of Colgate in the second period.
Colgate was 0-3 on the power play in the second period as they had just four shots on the man advantage.
The Purple Eagles had an 11-10 advantage in the faceoff circle in the second period.
Third Period
Near the midway point of the third period, Colgate scored on the power play at the 10:25 mark to make it 2-1.
Niagara pulled the goalie with just under three minutes remaining and had sustained pressure in the Colgate zone but could not tie the game at two.
Niagara Notes
· Ryan Ouellette started in net for the Purple Eagles and made 30 saves. It is his second game this season in which he had 30 or more saves.
· Randklev picked up his 11th point of the season to lead the team.
· Ahearn scored his fifth goal of the season, it was his first goal since Nov. 4 against Air Force. He has four power play goals this season which is the second most in the AHA.
· Ott registered an assist for his 51st career point, he now has a point in his last four games.
· Niagara has power play goals in eight of their last 10 games. In those 10 games they have 10 power play goals. The Purple Eagles currently have the top power play in Atlantic Hockey.
· Niagara is now 12-10-2 all-time against Colgate.
· Tyler Wallace blocked a team high two shots while David Posma, Alex Murray, Lane Brockhoff, Jaedon Leslie, Connor Mylymok, Luke Mylymok, and Prohorenkovs all blocked one shot.
· Prohorenkovs won a team best 12 faceoffs while Leslie went 8-6 in his return to the lineup.
· Prohorenkovs is third in the AHA faceoff wins with 151 wins this season. His 58.1% winning percentage is second in the AHA this season. Leslie is 11th in the AHA at 53.6%.
Up Next
Niagara's six game road trip continues with a road trip to Holy Cross on Dec. 1-2. Game one is scheduled for 7 PM while game two is slated for 4 PM.
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