Niagara defeated host Findlay on Friday evening at the Clauss Ice Arena, 4-1.
The fans were witness to a first-period goaltending duel as Niagara goaltender Rob Bonk and Findlay goaltender Jamie VanderSpyker traded miraculous saves and forced a 0-0 tie into the first intermission.
However, Findlay got on the board first at the 10:34 mark of the second period on the power play. THe Oilers would carry that 1-0 lead into the locker room after the second period and the Purple Eagles would either respond in the third period, or face a possible loss.
Faced with that choice, Niagara responded, killing off a penalty and immediately going on the offensive.
Niagara scored three minutes, 10 seconds into the third period as freshman Barret Ehgoetz would score off a rebound from Chris Welch and Scott Crawford to tie the game at one.
Niagara would not let the game be knotted for long as the Purple Eagles scored just over five minutes later when last Friday’s overtime hero, John Heffernan scored off a Thomas Clayton rebound from a Scott Crawford feed to give Niagara a 2-1 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Niagara would tally a third goal, as freshman Matt Ryan would score his first goal as a Purple Eagle when he stuffed home a rebound off of a Bernie Sigrist shot from a Chris Sebastian feed.
Niagara was not done scoring until Ehgoetz got his second goal of the evening when he fird home a blast from the face off circle on a great feed from Nick Kormanyos and Chris Welch. Niagara would close out the game winning 4-1.
Said coach Dave Burkholder, “We faced some adversity trailing 1-0 in the third period and losing probably the first four shifts of the period … but from then on we had four lines that didn’t lose a shift and by the end of the night I feel we got what we deserved.”
