Niagara defeats Air Force with late goal

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – Niagara's Olivier Gauthier scored with 6.3 seconds left to lift the Purple Eagles to a 2-1 win over Air Force in an Atlantic Hockey Association game, Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Cadet Ice Arena.

In a scoreless first period, Niagara outshot Air Force, 11-8. Air Force's best scoring chance came midway through the period when NU goalie Chad Veltri stoned Falcon winger Parker Brown.
Early in the second period and with the Falcons on the power play, NU forward Glebs Prohorenkovs had a short-handed breakaway saved by AF senior Austin Park. Still scoreless, Clayton Cosentino set up Brown in front, but Veltri made another save on the Falcon junior.

Late in the second period, the Purple Eagles opened the scoring Christian Gorscak won a faceoff in the offensive end to Josef Mysak. Mysak made a move around a Falcon and then scored with a wrister from the top of the right circle at 14:38.

Early in the third period, several quality chances by the Purple Eagles were turned away. Less than 30 seconds into the third, Niagara's Drew Vieten had a breakaway that was saved by Park. Then with Niagara on the power play, Park slid to his right to make a save, but the puck hit off the wall and Ryan Cox was wide open on the back post. Cox's shot was saved by Falcon defenseman Brandon Koch to keep the score 1-0. With 5:50 left in the period, Park made another save on Carter Randklev on the doorstep.

Air Force (7-15-2, 3-10-1 AHA) tied the game with 4:39 left as Andrew DeCarlo fed Koch at the top of the right circle. Koch's shot was redirected by Will Gavin at the top of the crease to tie the game. Gavin leads the team with 10 goals and has scored a goal in each of the last four games.

With under 10 seconds left, Jason Pineo won a faceoff in the offensive zone and Noah Carlin gained the middle of the ice. Carlin set up Gauthier with a one-timer from the right dot for the game-winner.

Niagara (12-10-2, 6-8-2 AHA) outshot Air Force, 31-30. Park made a career high 29 saves. Chad Veltri made 29 saves for the Purple Eagles. Niagara was 0-for-3 on the power play while Air Force was 0-for-2.

"This was a tough one," head coach Frank Serratore said. "I thought we were the better team last night and they were the better team tonight. Our goalie made some gigantic saves. We gave up two faceoff goals that really cost us. Give them credit, their faceoff intensity was better. I thought we were a little sluggish, but we found a way to get that late goal to tie it. It was a darned shame that we wasted a great goaltending effort. It has been tough sledding. We have a big mountain to climb and that mountain gets much steeper heading to Army next week."

Air Force is on the road next weekend for a pair of Atlantic Hockey games against service academy rival Army, Friday-Saturday, Jan. 27-28, in West Point, N.Y.

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Team Stats

Will Gavin

Andrew DeCarlo

Brandon Koch

Chris Hedden

Players Mentioned

Parker Brown

Clayton Cosentino

Andrew DeCarlo

Will Gavin

Brandon Koch

Austin Park

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