LEWISTON, N.Y. — It was a weekend of firsts – and seconds – this weekend at Dwyer Arena a few days before Thanksgiving.
But considering it is just a few days away from the holiday, that is certainly not good.
One night after Niagara got its first victory of the season, American International College rode a three-goal second period before holding off Niagara 4-2 for only its second triumph of the year.
The Yellow Jackets improved to 2-6-0 in Atlantic Hockey and 2-11-0 overall. Niagara fell to 1-2-1 in AHC action and 1-7-2 overall.
The biggest difference – as it often is in this sport – was special teams. AIC converted on two of its four power-play attempts, while the Purple Eagles were blanked in six of theirs.
Perhaps the critical juncture of the game came early in the second period.
But before that it was a classic scenario of one team hammering the other, but, coming away with nothing to show for it. The Purple Eagles dominated AIC in the first period, outshooting them 16-1, but they left the ice in a scoreless tie.
After the teams returned to the ice, Niagara’s Sean King and Niko Kovachis were both whistled for hooking at 1:27 in a rare event. AIC’s Austin Orszulak made Niagara pay for the unique situation when he scored on a five-on-three. He whistled a shot through Guillaume Therien’s pads to give the Yellow Jackets a 1-0 lead.
“It is unfortunate, obviously it was a horrible call,” said Niagara coach Dave Burkholder. “Not too often with the two-man system do you get two calls on two different infractions on the same play. You have to kill [the penalties] and unfortunately, we didn’t.”
Burkholder was also not thrilled with the referees’ work in the first period either.
“I am going to leave that to you journalists to comment on – I probably shouldn’t,” he said. “I hope you do, though.”
Just under six minutes later, defenseman Ryan Polin took over, initially whistling a low shot past Therien for his first career goal to give AIC a 2-0 lead at 7:45. He scored again just over six minutes later when he pinched in and made it 3-0.
Niagara got back in it before the period ended at 15:04 when Derien Plouffe took Luke Edwards’ pass from the corner and beat AIC goaltender Alex Murray to get the Purple Eagles back in it at 3-1.
Niagara made it 3-2 in the third when Dan Kolenda poked in a rebound off of defenseman Larry Smith’s shot from the point past Murray to make it 3-2 with 5:56 left. The goal was then reviewed. After a lengthy delay, the goal stood and the stage was set for a potential exciting finish.
“From my perspective, we had two guys battling in front of the net, guys were working hard,” Kolenda said of his goal. “I thought it was a good, hard-working goal.”
Niagara pressed voraciously in the final minutes to get the equalizer, but AIC’s Chris Porter iced the victory with an empty-net goal.
The Purple Eagles outshot the Yellow Jackets 38-17.
