Fairfield, CT—The Niagara hockey team extended its season on Sunday night as they took down the third seeded Sacred Heart Pioneers in game three of the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal. Niagara used six different goal scores to win 7-3 over the Pioneers.
Game Recap
First Period

• Just like in game two on Saturday night, Sacred Heart scored early in the first period. The Pioneers scored on the power play at the 3:27 mark of the first period.
• Niagara was held off the board until the late stages of the opening period. At the 16:44 mark of the opening period, Sacred Heart took a boarding penalty. Niagara set the power play up in the offensive zone and took a shot towards the net. The Purple Eagles converged on the net and the puck was uncovered in the crease and Casey Carreau found the loose puck and buried his ninth goal of the season. Ryan Cox notched his 14^th assists while Ryan Naumovski had his 15^th assist of the season.
• Just a minutes later at the 18:07 mark the Purple Eagles struck again. Jason Pineo went hard on the forecheck and forced a turnover. The puck went to Lane Brockoff who fired it towards the net. Carter Randklev was in front of the net and redirected the shot into the net for his 12^th goal of the season.
• After 20 minutes, Niagara led 2-1 as shots were 10-9 in favor of Sacred Heart. Niagara also won 12 of 19 faceoffs in the first period.

Second Period

• Sacred Heart tied the game at two just 3:17 into the second period and then took the lead at the 3:56 mark of the period.
• At the 6:49 mark while on the power play, the Purple Eagles tied the game at three. Jay Ahearn took the cross ice pass from Randklev and scored his seventh goal of the season. Max Ruoho picked up a secondary assist on the play.
• Less than 10 minutes later, while on the power play again, Randklev scored his 13^th of the season and second of the night. With the power play set up he curled and took a shot from the left circle and beat the goal over the shoulder. Ruoho picked up his seventh assist of the season, Pineo picked up his second assist of the game as well.
• After two periods Niagara led 4-3 despite being outshot 21-17 through 40 minutes.
• The Purple Eagles were 3-4 on the power play in the first two periods.

Third Period

• Niagara made it a two goal game just 2:36 into the third period. Olivier Gauthier took a pass into the offensive zone from Randklev, Gauthier skated up the right wing and beat the goalie short side in the corner of the net. Noah Carlin picked up his 10^th assist of the season on the breakout pass.
• Just ahead of the media timeout, Naumovski netted his ninth goal of the season. Randklev picked off a Sacred Heart breakout pass and found Naumovski who flew past the Sacred Heart defensemen. He took the pass and ripped it into the net for the sixth Purple Eagle goal.
• Shane Ott closed out the game at the 19:17 mark of the third period as he scored an empty netter. Ahearn and Brockhoff picked up assists on the play.
• Sacred Heart once again outshot Niagara but 'grade A' chances were limited by the Purple Eagles.

Niagara Notes

• Randklev had a career high five points. He is one of just two players this season to have a five point game. The other is Eric Esposito of Mercyhurst. He is also just one of four active AHA players to have a five points in a game in their career. One of the other four is Naumovski who had a five point game in the 2019-20 season.
• Chad Veltri made 29 saves in his 17^th win of the season.
• The Purple Eagles finished the game 3-5 on the power play with six shots. This season they are 23-126 on the power play. They have scored a power play goal in eight of the last 11 games. They have 12 goals in those games including two games with three power play goals and one with two power play goals.
• Six different Purple Eagles had multiple points in the game while 10 Purple Eagles had at least one point.
• Niagara blocked 21 shots in the game, the Purple Eagles have blocked 20 more shots in seven games this season. Jordan Wishman had a game high five blocks while Lucas Bahn, Glebs Prohorenkovs, Carlin, Brockhoff, and David Posma all had two blocks.
• It was the 15^th time this season in which Niagara has scored four or more goals in a game. In those games they are 14-0-1 in those games.
• Niagara led after 40 minutes for the 19^th time this season they are now 16-1-2 this season when leading after two periods.
• In the last seven elimination games, Niagara is now 5-2.

Up Next

• The Purple Eagles return to Western New York for the Atlantic Hockey Semifinals. They will face long time Battle of the Bridge rival Canisius in a three game series at Harborcenter starting on Friday. The teams last met in the playoffs in the 2018-19 season when Niagara won the series 2-1.