By Thomas Baldwin
LEWISTON — Again, the Niagara University women’s hockey team could not defeat Mercyhurst.
That is not exactly earth-shattering news. Niagara had not beaten the Lakers since March 6, 2004, a streak of 26 games.
But what is newsworthy is Niagara actually competed with Mercyhurst on Friday night in Dwyer Arena before settling for a 2-2 tie with the top-ranked women’s team in the nation.
The Lakers’ dominance over the Purple Eagles has been frightening. They are 24-0-3 in their last 27 meetings with Niagara. Last season, they swept all five games from the Purple Eagles while outscoring them 35-6.
Mercyhurst improved to 9-0-2 this season (2-0-1 in College Hockey America) while the Purple Eagles fell to 5-4-4 overall and 2-1-2 in league play.
“I am proud of the girls,” Niagara coach Chris McKenzie said. “We were down in the third period and came back to tie it.”
For awhile, it looked like the Purple Eagles would again be vanquished — but this time it was different.
Niagara trailed 2-1 late in the third period but took advantage of a two-man advantage. The Purple Eagles pulled even when Jocey Kleiber’s shot from the slot whistled through Mercyhurst goaltender Hillary Pattenden’s pads to tie the game 2-2 with 9:26 left in the third period.
“I got a pass from Carleah (Angeles) and I ended up shooting into the hand of their defenseman,” Kleiber said of her first goal this season. “It came back to me and I threw it at the net.”
Earlier, it looked like another Niagara loss when Mercyhurst’s Ashley Cockell tipped Kelly Steadman’s blistering slapshot from the point past Niagara goaltender Jenni Bauer — who had no chance on it — for a 2-1 advantage at 3:08 of the third period.
The two teams meet again today at 2 p.m., and the Purple Eagles should possess something they haven’t had against Mercyhurst in a very long time — confidence.
“I think it reassures us,” Bauer said of Friday’s result carrying into Saturday. “We believe in our abilities. It is nice to know we can rely on each other.”
Bauer was busy (38 saves) and made tremendous stops on several occasions.
“It is easy to play behind a team that is blocking shots,” she said. “They are letting me see the puck.”
Jennifer MacLean scored the other Niagara goal, while Jesse Scanzano scored Mercyhurst’s other goal.
NOTES: On Monday, Bauer was named the CHA Defensive Player of Week for the fourth time in her career. The junior recorded a 1.44 goals against average and a .925 save percentage last week…..Niagara’s Caitlin Jenkins had her three-game goalscoring streak snapped……After Saturday’s game, the Purple Eagles are in action next at Cornell on Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 29 at 2 p.m. After that trip, they return for six straight home games.
