{"id":97164,"date":"2015-02-08T19:02:20","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T01:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/atlantic-hockey-blog\/?p=1744"},"modified":"2015-02-08T19:02:20","modified_gmt":"2015-02-09T01:02:20","slug":"three-things-february-8-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2015\/02\/08\/three-things-february-8-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Things: February 8, 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"
Three things from this past weekend in Atlantic Hockey:<\/p>\n
The Canisius – Robert Morris series this past weekend, a clash between first and second place in Atlantic Hockey as well as the two longest unbeaten streaks in the nation, lived up to its billing.<\/p>\n
Both games were low-scoring and went to overtime, with the host Colonials pulling out a 2-1 victory on Friday, and Canisius getting a late goal to force overtime and an eventual 1-1 tie on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“It really felt like a playoff game coming into the weekend and I think it played out like a playoff game and the margin of victory was slim,” said Canisius coach Dave Smith after the game on Friday.<\/p>\n
If anything, the atmosphere was more intense on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“In a playoff atmosphere with high emotions and high intensity, we played hard and stuck to a game plan but just weren’t able to get a winner through despite 45 shots on net,” said Smith. “We learned a lot from this weekend and our freshmen, especially, gained great experience in a wild game.”<\/p>\n
“We gave up two goals this weekend and only got three points,” said Robert Morris coach Derek Schooley. “That tells you how tough this series was.”<\/p>\n
The three points enabled Robert Morris to move closer to the regular season title. The Colonials lead (now) second-place Bentley by nine points with three weekends left. RMU is idle next weekend and needs two points in its final four games to clinch first place.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Rochester Institute of Technology defeated Niagara 7-3 at Dwyer Arena, putting to an end a winless streak there that extended back to…ever.<\/p>\n
The Tigers defeated Mercyhurst in the Division III ECAC West semifinals in 1998 at Dwyer, but lost to the host Purple Eagles in the championship game the next night.<\/p>\n
Niagara moved to Division I the next season, and the teams didn’t meet again in Lewiston until 2005 when the Tigers made the move to D-I. Prior to Friday’s game the teams had met a total of 14 times at Dwyer, with the Purps holding a 9-0-5 advantage. That came to an end Friday.<\/p>\n
Another streak unfortunately continued for Niagara, which battled back from a 3-1 third-period deficit on Saturday to take a 4-3 lead late in the game at RIT’s Polisseni Center. But the Tigers scored an extra-attacker goal with 30 seconds left to salvage a tie.<\/p>\n
That extended NU’s winless streak to 16 games (0-13-3) dating back to Nov. 22.<\/p>\n
The Purple Eagles visit Mercyhurst for a pair of games this weekend.<\/p>\n
Joe Vicario has been a student manager for RIT Hockey for five seasons, and has faced way more than his fair share of challenges: 31 surgeries mostly to address complications from a congenital defect called Goldenhar Syndrome, but also including a life-saving procedure to stop the spread of testicular cancer in 2013.<\/p>\n
Vicario, known as “Part-time Joe”<\/a>, a nickname given to him by RIT coach Wayne Wilson because of the unpredictable schedule he keeps, was honored Saturday for his courage and the work he has done as a founder of the Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation of Western New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n The RIT men’s and women’s teams wore and then auctioned off special jerseys and sold T-shirts to raise funds for the foundation.<\/p>\n Saturday’s festivities included a unique ceremonial puck drop that saw Vicario go from referee to player.<\/p>\n \/\/ <\/p>\n Niagara also honored Vicario before the game with Purple Eagle coach Dave Burkholder, a former All-American goaltender for RIT who backstopped the Tigers to the Division II national title in 1983, presented Vicario with a jersey.<\/p>\n \/\/ <\/p>\n Saturday was a reminder that while some things transcend even this sport we cherish, a love of this game brings people together to make good things happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three things from this past weekend in Atlantic Hockey: A playoff atmosphere The Canisius – Robert Morris series this past weekend, a clash between first and second place in Atlantic Hockey as well as the two longest unbeaten streaks in the nation, lived up to its billing. Both games were low-scoring and went to overtime, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1425],"tags":[772,1478],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n