Erie, Pa.—The Niagara hockey team closed out the regular season on Saturday night in Erie with a 4-3 win over the Mercyhurst Lakers.
First Period
It was Mercyhurst who opened the scoring at the 11:04 mark of the opening period.
Niagara earned a power play with just over three minutes remaining in the first period and went to work. Just nine seconds into the power play the Purple Eagles scored to tie the game at one. Glebs Prohorenkovs won the faceoff deep in the Mercyhurst zone and the puck was played back to the point. Jonathan Ziskie walked the line and fed the puck to Jack Richard in the right circle, he passed the puck to Connor Mylymok on the post. C. Mylymok fed the puck to Prohorenkovs in front of the net and jammed home his seventh goal of the season to make it 1-1.
Mercyhurst took another penalty just 34 seconds after the goal and put Niagara back on the power play. Just nine seconds into the power play the Purple Eagles struck again. Prohorenkovs won another faceoff and the puck found the side wall. Lars Rodne won a battle and fired a spinning pass to Richard on the other side of the ice. Richard saw Prohorenkovs cutting to the backside of the net, Richard hit him with a perfect pass and Prohorenkovs gave Niagara a 2-1 lead with his eighth of the season.
After the first period, Niagara was outshooting the Lakers 15-10.
Second Period
The Niagara power play struck once again early in the second period. The Purple Eagles controlled the puck and worked the puck to Ziskie at the point. Ziskie passed the puck to Richard on the top of the right faceoff circle, Richard rifled a one-timer into the back of the net for his seventh of the season. Prohorenkovs picked up his third point of the night and ninth assist of the season.
The Lakers scored a power play goal of their own at the 6:52 mark to make it 3-2 in favor of Niagara.
Just ahead of the midway mark of the second, the Purple Eagles took their two-goal lead back. Lane Brockhoff passed the puck to Cole Mickel deep in the Niagara zone. Mickel looked for a home run pass and found Aron Jessli cutting to the center of the ice between the center ice line and the Mercyhurst blue. Jessli took the pass and was in on the goalie all alone. Jessli ripped home his first collegiate goal to give Niagara a 4-2 lead. Mickel notched his third assist of the season while Brockhoff picked up his sixth.
Mercyhurst made it a one goal game once again with just over two and a half minutes left in the second period. Niagara went 17-4 in the second period in the faceoff circle.
Third Period
Neither team scored in the third period as the teams hunkered down on the defensive side. Niagara allowed just three shots in the period and kept the Lakers off the board.
Niagara blocked five shots in the third as they looked to take home a win.
Niagara Notes
· Jarrett Fiske made 27 saves in the win as he picked up his 13th win of the season.
· It is the first time since the 2012-13 season that Niagara has won 13 conference games.
Niagara is now 15-16-3 overall and finishes 13-10-3 in Atlantic Hockey play.
· Prohorenkovs and Richard both finished with three points in the game.
· Niagara's power play went 3-5 with eight shots on goal.
· The Purple Eagles blocked 12 shots in the game with Noah Carlin blocking a team high two.
· Niagara won 40 of 68 faceoffs. Prohorenkovs went 20-8 in the faceoff circle.
· Niagara went 2-1-1 against Mercyhurst this season with both wins coming on the road.
· The Purple Eagles are 12-0-2 this season when scoring more than four goals.
· Niagara has led after the first period eight times this season, they are 8-0-0 in those games.
· Niagara is 12-2-1 when leading after two periods.
Up Next
The Purple Eagles open up the Atlantic Hockey Playoffs with a single game series against Army at Dwyer Arena on Saturday Mar. 2 at 7 PM. Niagara split with Army on Feb. 16-17 at Dwyer Arena.
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