Fairfield, CT—The Niagara hockey team completed a two game sweep of Sacred Heart in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals with a 5-1 win over the Pioneers on Saturday night.

First Period

The Pioneers opened the scoring just 19 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead.

Neither team scored the rest of the first period as Sacred Heart had a 10-8 shot advantage.

The Purple Eagles killed off a Sacred Heart power play while not allowing a shot on the man advantage.

Second Period

The Purple Eagles tied the game at one just 3:11 into the second period. The line of Jay Ahearn, Tyler Wallace, and Carter Randklev went to work in the Sacred Heart zone. Ahearn won a battle deep in the Pio zone and kicked the puck to Wallace. Wallace fired a quick pass to Randklev who was in the low slot, Randklev rifled the puck into the top corner of the net for his 11^th goal of the season. Both Wallace and Ahearn notched their 15^th assists of the season.

Niagara took the lead at the 14:32 mark of the second period as the trio of Ahearn, Wallace, and Randklev were back at it. Wallace and Randklev forced a turnover in the Niagara zone, Wallace pass e the puck to Randklev who flipped the puck to Ahearn who was behind the Sacred Heart defensemen. Ahearn gloved the puck down and went in on a breakaway. Ahearn drove to the net and beat the goalie short side to give Niagara a 2-1 lead. It was Ahearn's eighth goal of the season while Randklev picked up his 18^th assist and Wallace notched his 16^th assist.

Less than a minute later, the Purple Eagles were on a 4v3 power play. Niagara called a timeout to set up the power play and sent out Shane Ott, Ahearn, Randklev, and Wallace out. Wallace was in front of the net while Randklev, Ott, Ahearn were spread out across the top of the circles. Randklev passed the puck from the left circle to Ott in the high slot who slid it to Ahearn in the right circle. Ahearn looked to the front of the net and fired a shot to bottom corner of the net to give Niagara a 3-1 lead. It was Ahearn's ninth goal of the season while Ott picked up his 15^th assist and Randklev picked up his 19^th assist.

After two periods Niagara led 3-1 despite being outshot 20-16 through two periods.

Niagara went 13-7 in the faceoff circle in the second period.

Third Period

The Purple Eagles were back on the power play at the 3:25 mark of the third period. Just over a minute into the power play, the Purple Eagles converted. Jack Richard sped into the Sacred Heart zone and briefly lost control of the puck, the puck found Glebs Prohorenkovs who fired the puck back to Richard. Richard used his speed to get the goalie out of position and fired the puck into the open net. Richard became the third Purple Eagle to hit double digit goals as he notched his 10^th goal of the season. Prohorenkovs picked up his 11^th assist of the season while Lars Rodne picked up his 12^th assist of the season.

The Pioneers pulled their goalie with 5:25 left in regulation. Niagara's Lane Brockhoff scored an empty net goal with 3:18 left in regulation to close out the game. Connor Mylymok picked up his fifth assist on Brockhoff's second goal of the season.

Niagara Notes

·       Jarrett Fiske picked up his 16^th win of the season as he made 36 saves in the win. This postseason he has a 1.67 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage as he has made 110 saves on 115 shots.

·       Randklev and Ahearn both had three points in the win.

·       In his last three playoff games against Sacred Heart, Randklev has 11 points.

·       Niagara went 2-4 on the power play while having five shots.

·       The Purple Eagle penalty kill went 3-3 on the kill while allowing just four shots.

·       Niagara blocked 19 shots in the game with Drew Vieten blocking a team high four shots. Noah Carlin, Richard, and Brockhoff all blocked three shots.

·       The Purple Eagles improve to 15-0-2 this season when scoring four or more goals.

·       Niagara is 22-17-2 all-time against Sacred Heart.

·       Since Martire Family Arena opened in Jan. 2022, Niagara is 5-2-0 while winning a pair of playoff series in the new arena.

·       It is the second straight season that Niagara has eliminated Sacred Heart in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals.

·       Niagara advances to the Atlantic Hockey Semifinals for the seventh time in program history.

·       With the sweep, it is the first time Niagara has swept a playoff series since Niagara swept Air Force in the AHA Quarterfinals in the 2018-19 season.

·       Prohorenkovs is now on a four-game point streak, over the four games he has three goals and three assists.

·       Randklev has a three-game point streak, in the three games he has three goals and three assists.

·       Richard is on a four-game point and goal streak. Over the four games he has four goals and three assists.

·       Wallace is now on a three-game point streak with two goals and three assists in the three games.

Up Next

The Purple Eagles travel to the top seeded RIT Tigers in the Atlantic Hockey Semifinals for a three game series. Niagara went 1-1-1 with five points against RIT this season. The Purple Eagles and Tigers last played in the AHA Postseason in the 2019 season when they matched up in a one game AHA Semifinal series. Niagara won 1-0 to advance to the AHA Championship.

The three-game series is set to begin on Friday, Mar. 15 with faceoff scheduled for 7 PM. Game two will be at 7 PM on Mar. 16 with the third game scheduled for 5 PM on Mar. 17 if necessary.

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