Niagara’s Barret Ehgoetz scored with just three seconds left in regulation, and two disallowed overtime goals for the Purple Eagles added to the brew as Niagara and Alabama-Huntsville finished in a 3-3 tie Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Back-and-forth play highlighted the contest, in which the goaltenders for both teams turned in superior performances.<\/p>\n
“As expected, today’s game was an unbelievable battle right to the end,” said Niagara coach Dave Burkholder. “We had some great chances in overtime; that sets up what should be a great afternoon of effort tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
Seeing his first action in three weeks, Niagara goalie Jeff VanNynatten made several big saves early on Charger opportunities from the slot.<\/p>\n
After Niagara failed to capitalize on two power-play chances, Alabama-Huntsville struck. Tyler Butler intercepted a pass in the neutral zone and fed Jason Hawes, who cut across the slot and wristed a shot top-corner short side for the 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Trailing 1-0 to start the second, the Purple Eagles took advantage of their fourth power play of the game. Ryan Gale redirected a Joe Tallari shot for his first of the season.<\/p>\n
The Chargers quickly regained the lead when Mike Funk stuck the puck into an open net at the 8:36 mark after VanNynatten was buried underneath a pile of bodies.<\/p>\n
Niagara weathered Charger pressure to close the second, and utilized a timely line change to catch the Chargers unawares and knot the game up at two. Jason Williamson took a feed from Gale and then fed a beautiful backdoor pass to Tallari, who buried his nation-leading 16th of the season.<\/p>\n
The third again featured back-and-forth action, with the teams combining for 35 shots on goal, highlight-reel scoring opportunities and game-saving defensive plays.<\/p>\n
Tied at two for 18 minutes-plus, the Chargers benefited from a redirected shot off a faceoff. Steve Charlebois potted his fourth of the year into an open net for a 3-2 lead.<\/p>\n
But reminiscent of its performance against Michigan State, Niagara again displayed the knack for late-game heroics.<\/p>\n
With three seconds remaining, Ehgoetz stuffed home a rebound off a Tallari shot to send the game into overtime.<\/p>\n
“We drew up a faceoff play with 10 seconds left, trying to get the puck to Tallari for a shot,” said Burkholder. “Barret made a great play on the rebound.”<\/p>\n
The Purple Eagles carried play in the extra session, outshooting the Chargers 4-1, but were on the receiving end of two controversial calls by the officiating crew. Not one, but two Purple Eagles goals were disallowed in a 30-second span in overtime.<\/p>\n
In a stellar display of goaltending on both sides, VanNynatten made a career high 41 saves while counterpart Mark Byrne had 38.<\/p>\n
Niagara and UAH finish the weekend series Sunday at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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