Box score
NIAGARA, N.Y. - Despite an offensive blitz by Western Michigan's hockey team that saw it outshoot host Niagara 44-22 and dominate puck control, the Broncos dropped a 4-2 decision to the host Purple Eagles in non-conference action at Dwyer Arena tonight. WMU falls to 2-1-0 on the year while Niagara improves to 3-1-0 and extends its home winning streak to 19 games.
“First of all I thought the goaltenders played extremely hard. I think the difference in the game is just missed opportunities for us. We had chances to score and we weren't able to convert on them,” head coach Jim Culhane said. “I'm pleased about my team's performance and how hard they worked. I think there's a lot of positives we can take from the game tonight.”
Egor Mironov registered his third goal of the season on a breakaway just 44 seconds into the first period to give the Purple Eagles a 1-0 lead, taking a pass off the boards from Scott Langdon in the neutral zone and skating in alone. Dan Sullivan also earned an assist on the play.
Twelve seconds later Niagara found itself on a five-minute power play, but the Broncos deflated any momentum that NU could have drawn from going up two goals when freshman Ryan Watson tallied the first shorthanded goal of his collegiate career at 1:36 to tie the game 1-1, beating netminder Juliano Pagliero over the blocker. Junior Matt Clackson garnered the lone assist on Watson's second goal of the season, and WMU went on to kill the remainder major penalty.
Western Michigan outshot the Purple Eagles 12-3 in the first period, but was unable to slip another past Pagliero and the score remained knotted 1-1 at first intermission.
One minute into the second WMU found itself shorthanded again and LoVecchio created another quality scoring chance on a two-on-one break, dragging a Niagara defender with him as he skated into the zone and spinning to make a nifty backhand pass to junior Patrick Galivan. Galivan was unencumbered as he took his shot, but Pagliero had a read on it and made the save to keep the game deadlocked 1-1.
Niagara regained the one-goal lead 2-1 with a power-play marker at 4:24 by Matt Caruana. Vince Rocco started the play, passing to Caruana, who tried a wrap around on the backhand, but freshman goalie Jerry Kuhn stopped him. Caruana gathered his own rebound and took two more shots, finally sliding the third underneath Kuhn. Once again the Broncos held an advantage in shots, this time by a slim 14-13 margin, but Niagara held the edge where it counted, leading 2-1 at the end of two.
Caruana struck again at 8:15 of the final frame, this time while the Purple Eagles were short-handed to extend the lead to 3-1. Chris Moran assisted on the play.
Senior Brian Bicek brought the Broncos within one 3-2 with his first goal of the season at 11:25, deflecting a shot from the point by junior Dave Krisky. However, Paul Zanette sealed the 4-2 victory for Niagara with his first career goal at 18:54 with help from Ted Cook and Vince Rocco.
Kuhn made 18 saves for the Broncos in his first career start, while his counterpart Pagliero stopped 42 shots to earn the win. Niagara was 1-4 on the power play whilst holding the Broncos scoreless in four opportunities.
Tomorrow night Western Michigan and Niagara conclude their two-game series at Dwyer Arena at 7:05 p.m.
