By Budd Bailey
There was playoff hockey in Western New York on Friday night.
Had the Buffalo Sabres been involved in the game, the schools might have been closed and mail would have gone undelivered. But alas, the Sabres were busy on the NHL trading deadline day, trying to restructure a team that hasn’t made the postseason since 2011 … and certainly won’t this year either.
A change in venue was needed for a reminder of what the playoff version of the sport was like. Happily, Niagara finished high enough in the standings to host a weekend series against Army West Point, starting on Friday night in Dwyer Arena.
And it was a such an entertaining game that it would have satisfied anyone for … well, maybe not 14 years, but at least it provided those in attendance with their money’s worth and then some.
“I was really excited by the guys, really impressed by the culture,” Niagara coach Jason Lammers said.
The Purple Eagles and Black Knights skated for almost four hours – 94 minutes and 39 seconds with the clock running, to be precise. That’s when Mac Gadowski scored on a power play to give Army (15-17-2) the 3-2 victory in the opening game of the best-of-three series. Niagara (17-15-3) once played a triple overtime in 2015 against Holy Cross, so this one didn’t set a school record.
One of the major stories of the game was the Eagles’ penalty-killing. Niagara killed off the first eight Army power plays, which is a lot to ask. But No. 9 proved decisive, in part because Army had four skaters to the Purple Eagles’ three. That’s a more dangerous situation than the usual five-on-four man-advantage situations, because there’s one less body to cover open ice.
In this case Gadowski had a rebound on the right side with nothing but net in front of him. Pierce Charleson was unable to make his 62nd save of the night; 61 set a school record for Niagara.
“We’d keep trying to respond to the poor officiating,” Lammers said. “We’re the least-penalized team in the league, and that’s what he comes up with. That’s tough.”
This sort of game seems almost probable beforehand. The teams had divided two regular-season games back in November. They were both close and low-scoring.
In this case, Niagara had a couple of leads in the game as Tyler Wallace and Jay Ahearn scored. The Eagles took a 2-1 lead into the third period when Adam Marshall launched a shot from the right side near the glass. The path somehow found its way through some body parts and into the net. From there it felt likely that the next goal would win; we just didn’t know when it would happen. It took almost a couple of hours, including two extra intermissions.
Charleson continued to make saves as the night went on. He faced 42 shots through the end of regulation and saw 22 more in extra time. His night ended only when he had no chance.
“I thought he was awesome,” Lammers said. “He gave us calm and confidence. Man, I love that kid. I continue to be impressed by him and what he can do and the work he puts into his craft. “
Niagara now has a problem immediately on the horizon. It certainly has a tired hockey team that has to be a bit down after such an eventually fruitless effort. The Eagles play Army West Point again on Saturday night at Dwyer, and with a win they’d have to repeat that process on Sunday night. That’s a lot of hockey in a short time, and it’s easy to guess that any team with Army on the front of the jersey is in top condition. So it’s a big hill to climb.
“It’s us versus the world now,” Lammers said. “It’s very obvious to me what they are doing. …. I’ll just call it what is. We obviously want to play more guys. … I know it will be really challenging, but I know our guys will respond. I have a lot of faith in our group.”
(Follow Budd on X.com via @WDX2BB)
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