Nearly three weeks and over 1,200 miles into their college hockey careers, more than one-third of the Niagara University roster has yet to experience the thrill of a victorious post-game locker room. Even the one tie the Purple Eagles managed wasn’t much fun — Niagara blew a two-goal lead late in the third period in its home opener to Colgate.

But coach Dave Burkholder said the message he’s delivered to the 10 freshmen on his roster remains consistent — keep working hard and good things will come.

He hopes that message finally pays dividends this weekend as Niagara travels to No. 6 Cornell tonight and follows with a date at Colgate on Saturday.

“We just keep reiterating that we win here. The culture that we’ve established, how we act on and off the ice, it works,” Burkholder said. “We have regular season and conference championships and NCAA Tournament games to prove that. They see that every day when they’re here. We’re not going to change anything because we’re 0-3-1. During most of the games, we’ve been really, really good.”

The team’s freshmen have been thrust into the spotlight quickly, especially on defense. When senior Tyler Gotto drew a 10-minute suspension last Thursday in Michigan, the Purple Eagles were down to five blueliners, including four freshmen — C.J. Chartrain, Jason Beattie, Tyler Matthews and Dan Weiss.

“That was something I hadn’t experienced in the past, but it was probably the most fun I’ve had playing hockey,” Chartrain said of the game at Michigan’s Yost Arena. “Playing in front of 6,000 fans, it seems like a lot of pressure, but it’s just fun to be out there and play hockey. You can’t really worry about being out of the lineup. You’ve just got to go out there and work hard.”

As for the slow start, that’s nothing new for the Purple Eagles, who have been under .500 at various portions all but once this decade. But Niagara’s ambitious non-conference schedule typically has something to do with that. And after starting a combined a 15-39-4 over the past 10 years, the team has finished with a record of 158-140-33.

This group of freshmen except the same type of finish.

“When you have a locker room as deep as ours, it’s all positive in there,” said Jason Beattie, one of four freshmen defenders who played at Michigan. “We know what we have in there, and we know what we’re going to start doing in the games to come out ahead.”

Tonight’s opponent, Cornell, will also be working through some growing pains when the puck drops tonight. The Big Red have nine freshmen on their roster, including a pair of highly touted newcomers in defensemen Braden Birch and Nick D’Agostino. Birch was a sixth-round pick of Chicago in 2008 while D’Agostino was a seventh-round choice of the Penguins in the same draft.

But that won’t change the approach Niagara’s youngsters will take, especially after facing Clarkson, St. Lawrence and Michigan already this young season.

“That’s hockey,” Beattie said. “You come in and compete every night.”

Contact sports editor Tim Schmitt at 282-2311, ext. 2266