By Sharvani Regmi
NIAGARA, N.Y. - The top two teams in the Atlantic Hockey Association faced off in a thrilling match with Sacred Heart coming out on top during overtime.
Niagara opened their scoring just over 14 minutes into the action. Ray Murakami slotted the first goal for Niagara, the second goal of the year for the freshman defender. The goal was assisted by Jay Ahearn and Trevor Hoskin.
“I think in college, it’s like way faster, pressures are way heavier,” Murakami said. “But I think it’s about just you know getting better every single day, just watching clips all over again and working on a lot of things with coaches.”
At the end of the period, the Purple Eagles had 13 shots on goal and the Pioneers had four.
Halfway through the second period, Niagara added their second goal. Freshman forward Trevor Hoskin gave Niagara the lead after scoring a goal from a chaotic scramble assisted by Glebs Prohorenkovs. Hoskin shot the puck under the left arm of the Pioneers goalie Jack O’Dea, this marked the forward’s 10th goal of the season.
“It’s kind of a weird goal. I think we just collectively as all four lines, we put a lot of pressure on them in that second period,” Hoskin said. “And I don’t know it’s kind of just a scramble in front and the puck popped right out there and I knew there was traffic in front, so I just swung it around and shot it.”
Hoskin was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the summer of 2024 in the fourth round.
31 seconds after Niagara scored their second goal, the Pioneers opened their scoring account and two minutes later scored their second goal, leveling the score 2-2.
Niagara outshot Sacred Heart 10-to-8 in the second frame.
The third period was scoreless despite both teams getting a power play opportunity each. The game went to overtime.
During the overtime period, the Pioneers took the lead in the power play after junior defender Mikey Adamson cleared the crossbar with seven seconds left on the clock. The goal was assisted by Marcus Joughin and Felix Trudeau.
“I think the takeaways for me are just how much the group, how hard they competed and how connected they are, that would be number one,” Niagara head coach Jason Lammers said. “Number two is just; I think it’s real good just to show our guys like we had leads against the first-place team.”
“Now we’re right there. We just need to finish, figure out a way to close it out. The third piece would just be now, it’s a good chance for us to grow. This is probably a good time of year for this to happen. Hopefully, it’s just a little bit of a wake-up call for us, and we’ll get back at it.”
Next up Niagara will host Canisius University on February 11. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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