Purple Eagles Fall To Pioneers Despite 38 Shots

[le]

Sacred Heart topped NU 4-1 today. Oullette allowed 4 goals on 15 shots. Not the best math, but I’m not sure the quality of the opps or any power play goals. .. We get split on the road which is fine. Need to protect home ice moving forward. Lund scored for NU from Ahearn.

[phillyeagle]

NU outshot Sacred Heart 71-27. That stat seems unbelievable to me.

[le]

Philly , those are total actual shots not just shots on goal. NU outshot SHU 38-15. These two stars indicate NU pretty much controlled the game. I didn’t watch the game , but my guess is that our goalie didn’t have a stellar performance. He allowed 2 goals on only 13 shots, not great. Maybe we see Fitzkie next weekend at Dwyer.

NU NOTES:

Niagara Notes

· Niagara set a season high with 38 shots, it is the sixth most shots by a team in an AHA game this season. It is the second game this season that Niagara has had 30+ shots, last season they had 16 games with 30+ shots.

· The Purple Eagles allowed just 15 shots, it is the least amount of shots since they allowed just 14 shots on Feb. 22, 2022 in a 4-2 win over RIT.

· Shane Ott had a game-high seven shots while 14 players tallied a shot on goal.

· Ahearn is currently on a three game point streak. He has two goals and three assists in the three games.

· Rodne also has a three game point streak as he has two goals and two assists across three games.

· Mysak has three assists in his last three games and has tallied an assist in four of five games this season.

· Ryan Ouellette made 11 saves on 13 shots against Sacred Heart. He has a .907 save percentage this season and a 2.49 goals-against average in four starts as a junior.

https://purpleeagles.com/news/2023/10/2 ... shots.aspx

[Truthful]

Geez.....that was a BAD loss since it appeared that NU clearly dominated them statistically . To have 23 more shots on goal and lose by 3 is unbelievable .

[NewEnglander]

The loss and the goalie play were not as bad as it seems. It was essentially a 2-1 loss as there were 2 empty net goals in the last 2 minutes. Niagara pulled the goalie early again (those that know me are aware how much I dislike Lammers pulling the goalie that early). Down by 2 they continued to play with an empty net (another thing I dislike about Lammers). I know a loss is a loss but continuously giving up empty net goals is demoralizing and can lead to worse outcomes later. They had a failed PP opportunity earlier with about 8 minutes left as well. Sacred Heart scored on their only PP late in the second so only one goal was given up on a 5 on 5 situation. They are poised to compete well in Atlantic Hockey though. We will see how the season unfolds.

[le]

I agree on both of your salient points. Lammers does pull the goalie a bit early being ONLY down by one goal and ....

They are poised to compete well in Atlantic Hockey though. We will see how the season unfolds.

It seems like it's 50/50 in college hockey regarding pulling the goalie early (down by 1) as opposed to the 1.30 mark or so. What's your take with the HE coaches ?

[NewEnglander]

BU is the only school that seems to take that early chance by pulling the goalie. They have done it very early while on the PP as well. However, they have the exceptional talent to pull it off so that it is much less of an issue than in Atlantic Hockey. Playing aggressively may get you that PP so there may be no need to pull early is my opinion.

[Truthful]

Has pulling the goalie early resulted in anything other than increasing the margin of defeat ? It seems Lammers keeps utilizing this strategy with little to no success . Good coaching is about making adjustments and being open minded .