NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. — Niagara men's hockey scored a goal in each period and goaltender Deivs Rolovs made 29 saves to backstop the Purple Eagles to a 3-1 victory over Mercyhurst on Saturday night at Dwyer Arena.
The Purple Eagles improved to 11-20-1, 8-15-1 AHA, while the Lakers fell to 5-24-3, 5-16-3 AHA.
Niagara struck first in the opening period on a power play at the 12:26 mark. Jacob Maillet found the back of the net for the sixth time this season on a feed from Glebs Prohorenkovs and Maxim Muranov to put the Purple Eagles up 1-0.
Rolovs turned aside all three Mercyhurst shots he faced in the period, while the Purple Eagles held the shot advantage 7-3 after 20 minutes.
The Purple Eagles doubled their lead in the middle frame on another power-play goal, this one at 16:46. Declan McDonnell buried his 10th goal of the season with assists from Ross Roloson and Maillet to make it 2-0.
Niagara outshot Mercyhurst 11-9 in the period with Rolovs handling all nine Mercyhurst shots he faced.
Niagara pushed its advantage to 3-0 just 7:38 into the third when Spencer Young scored at even strength, redirecting passes from Muranov and Marshall Finnie for his ninth goal of the year.
Mercyhurst got on the board at 12:06 when Barrett Brooks finally beat Rolovs assisted by Jacob Leblanc and Ryan Coughlin to cut the deficit to 3-1.
The Lakers pulled goaltender Gravel for an extra attacker late in the period and pelted Rolovs with shots, but the Niagara netminder was up to the task, stopping all 17 Mercyhurst shots in the third to close out the win.
Coaches Thoughts
Game Notes
Niagara is now 28-25-7 all-time against Mercyhurst
Rolovs recorded his first win since 12/5/25 against Bentley
Muranov tied a career-high in assists with his two apples in the victory
The Purple Eagles won the face-off battle 40-24
McDonnell scored goals in back-to-back games for this first time this season
Up Next
Niagara wraps up the regular season with a home and home against Battle of the Bridge rival Canisius, starting Friday February 27 at Dwyer Arena for Senior Day.
