By Budd Bailey
It seemed quite appropriate for the crowd to exit Dwyer Arena Friday night to the sound of a siren.
After all, the fans had just watched an excellent, wide-open hockey game between Niagara and Holy Cross. Even better from their standpoint, the Purple Eagles came away from the game with a 4-3 win in a shootout.
But that’s not what the siren was about. The fire alarm went off about 15 minutes after the contest ended, and a recorded voice urged everyone to leave the building. It didn’t seem like the time to stand around and figure out what was going on. Therefore, the postgame news conference wasn’t held, and any comments about the game were left unsaid.
An abbreviated game story is better than none, though. And the news was pretty good for Niagara, which had enough things go right during the game’s flip-flops to come up with a win – its second straight in improving to 6-4-2, 5-2-1 Atlantic Hockey.
The Eagles had some work to do after a first period that saw them give up 21 shots in 20 minutes. Pierce Charleson of Niagara gave up two goals for a 2-0 lead for the Crusaders, but it could have been much worse. Give Charleson credit for allowing his team to stay in the game.
The script was flipped in the second period, with Niagara dominating play (19 shots). The Eagles received goals from defenseman Braden Doyle and forwards Noah Hackett and Grayson Dietrich to take a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes. It was a good sign that players other than Niagara’s top scorers contributed on offense as it makes the team tougher to defend. When Holy Cross picked up a pair of penalties very late in the period, it looked as if Niagara had a chance to score a power-play goal and wrap up the win.
But the Crusaders not only avoided that fate, but instead tied the game on a rebound shot by Timothy Heinke. The teams played on through the end of regulation and through five minutes of overtime, as neither could score.
In the shootout, only Jay Ahearn of Niagara was able to put the puck in the net. That sparked the celebration that spilled outdoors a bit earlier than expected.
It was a nice win for a Purple Eagles squad that is off to a good start so far. Sometimes Niagara has opened slowly, and spent the rest of the season trying to catch up to the top teams in the conference. But this time the other teams are doing the chasing, as the Eagles maintained their position on top of Atlantic hockey. As the time-honored saying goes, you can’t win a conference title in college hockey in November, but you can lose it.
The teams return to action on Saturday night at 5 p.m. at Dwyer Arena … hopefully without that last siren.
(Follow Budd on X.com @WDX2BB)
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