LEWISTON, N.Y. — Although it is still very early for Niagara, how long can it still be considered early? When is it time to become genuinely concerned?
Clearly, there are some problems with the Purple Eagles. The question is – are these problems very serious – or perhaps just bumps in the road – expected during a long season?
Niagara is still winless with Halloween and the month of October now in the rear-view mirror. The unheralded American International College squad came into Dwyer Arena and swept the Purple Eagles this weekend.
On Saturday – as was the case the previous evening – Yellow Jackets’ freshman goaltender Alex Murray was paramount in a 4-2 AIC victory.
The reeling Purple Eagles – off to their worst start in program history – fell to 0-8-0 overall and are winless in four Atlantic Hockey contests. AIC improved to 2-4-1 overall and 2-3-1 in conference play.
Murray, a freshman who made 42 saves in Friday night’s AIC triumph, recorded 40 stops on Saturday. Austin Orszulak and Alexander MacMillan each scored twice for the Yellow Jackets, who were picked 11th in the Atlantic Hockey poll at the start of the season.
Murray stopped 82 of 85 shots he faced this weekend.
“It’s huge – wins are hard to come by in this conference,” said Murray, who also had a 55-save performance against Holy Cross two weeks ago. “Every team is pretty close, so it is good we got two wins this weekend.”
While the Yellow Jackets showed some potential this weekend, the Purple Eagles are descending. Niagara has had significant injuries, and ran into a hot goaltender this weekend.
But statistics never lie.
The Purple Eagles have scored a grand total of 12 goals in eight games. Their power play has remained what many could consider alarmingly dark, converting on just three of 31 attempts (9.7 percent). They have been outscored 42-12. Granted, they have been outscored 23-10 in three losses to St. Lawrence and Notre Dame, so that stat is skewed a little.
“I think it is just a combination, everything that can go wrong is going wrong,” Niagara coach Dave Burkholder said. “It is going to take that one victory to get us going. We still believe in the guys in that locker room. What we are doing isn’t working, [so] we have to work harder.”
In the latest loss, Niagara outshot AIC 42-24, but could not dent Murray.
“I thought we controlled the play, but unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough,” said Burkholder. “They capitalized on some of their Grade A’s, and we didn’t, and that is the difference in the game. Not much else can be said.”
Niagara trailed 2-1 late in the second period when still another dilemma arrived – the inability to sustain prosperity.
First, Niagara’s Stephen Pietrobon tipped defenseman Keegan Harper’s high rising shot from the left point past Murray to tie the game 2-2 at 16:31.
Just 58 seconds later, MacMillan took David Norris’ pass from behind the net and shot it past Niagara goaltender Jackson Teichroeb from the low slot to give AIC the lead again at 3-2.
“That’s a big deal,” Burkholder said of the eventual winning goal. “We just got the momentum back and unfortunately, again, we had a bad backcheck, guys not picking up, and they had a tap in layup. Those are things we need to stop doing, and it is hurting us.”
Niagara took a 1-0 lead just 4:07 into the game when Isaac Kohls scored his first of the season. But AIC tied it 1-1 early in the second when Orszulak scored before MacMillan gave the Yellow Jackets a 2-1 lead just under two minutes later.
“It is is a great feeling when you can get the win,” Murray said. “The boys battled really hard today. Sometimes when you get more shots, it gets you into the game a little easier. That helped a lot. I saw most of the shots, and the boys really helped me out today.”
