The Niagara Purple Eagles men's ice hockey team is a

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) Division I

college ice hockey College ice hockey is played principally in the United States and Canada, though leagues exist outside North America. In the United States, competitive "college hockey" refers to ice hockey played between colleges and universities within the go ...

program that represents

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in the census-designated place Niagara University, New York, in the town of Lewiston near Niagara Falls. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and ...

. The Purple Eagles are members of

Atlantic Hockey America Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) is a college ice hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. The conference was formed in 2023 by the merger of ...

. They play at the Dwyer Arena in

Lewiston, New York Lewiston is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Niagara County, New York, Niagara County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 15,944 at the 2020 census. The town and its contained village are named aft ...

History

After several years of playing at the club level, the team turned varsity in the 1996–97 season, which they played as independent. In 1999 they became charter members of

College Hockey America College Hockey America (CHA) was a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference's final membership featured six women's teams, with three in Pennsylvani ...

(CHA), joining two other independent teams (

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

and

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

) and three former Division II teams ( Alabama–Huntsville, Bemidji State and Findlay). Niagara went undefeated in conference play that season, 1999–00, winning the conference tournament and gaining an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament, as the conference did not gain an automatic bid until the 2003 tournament. Starting goaltender

Greg Gardner Gregory Gardner (born November 21, 1975) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former goaltender who is the NCAA Division I record-holder for shutouts in a season (as of 2021). He was the first ever player signed by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Care ...

set a single-season NCAA record for shutouts with 12 as Niagara posted its first (and only as of 2019) 30-win campaign. The Purple Eagles upset the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

to advance to the Elite Eight, where they lost to

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

. North Dakota went on to win that national championship. Niagara also won the College Hockey America Championship in 2004 and 2008, appearing in the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship again those years. In

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

they lost against

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

and in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

against

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. On January 29, 2009, Niagara University announced that the team was moving to the

Atlantic Hockey Association The Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) was an NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. Unlike several other ...

beginning in the 2010-11 season, following the closure of CHA's men's division. CHA would continue to operate as a women-only conference for the next 14 years. On October 14, 2010, it was announced that

Jay McKee Jay McKee (born September 8, 1977) is a Canadian coach and former professional ice hockey defenceman. He last played for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL), and was previously with the Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis B ...

would serve as a volunteer assistant coach for Niagara Purple Eagles men's ice hockey, while not ruling out a return to the NHL. On December 14, 2013 the Purple Eagles faced off against the RIT Tigers in an outdoor hockey game known as

Frozen Frontier Frozen Frontier (officially Greater Rochester Area Honda Dealers Frozen Frontier presented by Labatt) was a multi-day outdoor ice hockey event in December 2013 in Rochester, New York. An ice rink was erected in the infield of Frontier Field, a bas ...

tying 2-2. Shortly after the 2023–24 season, the Atlantic Hockey Association and CHA, which had shared a commissioner and conference staff since 2010, merged under the banner of

Season-by-season results

Source:

Head coaches

As of the completion of 2024–25 season

NCAA tournament appearances

Statistical leaders

Source:

Career points leaders

Career goaltending leaders

''GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% =

Save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various Goal (sports), goal-scoring sports that track Save (goaltender), saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse and association football, it is a sta ...

; GAA =

Goals against average Goals against average (GAA), also known as average goals against (AGA), is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on spo ...

'' minimum 30 games played Statistics current through the end of the 2023–24 season.

Roster

As of August 26, 2024.

Awards and honors

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

All-Americans

AHCA Second Team All-Americans *2010–11: Paul Zanette, F

CHA

Individual awards

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

: 1999 * Joe Tallari: 2003 * Barret Ehgoetz: 2004 * Jeff Van Nynatten: 2006 *

Sean Bentivoglio Sean Bentivoglio (born October 16, 1985) is a Canadian-Italian professional ice hockey forward (ice hockey), forward who is currently playing with the Dundas Real McCoys in the ACH (Allan Cup Hockey) League. Playing career Bentivoglio was born i ...

: 2007 * Juliano Pagliero: 2009 Rookie of the Year * Ted Cook: 2006 *

Les Reaney Les Reaney (born July 8, 1984) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre. Career Reaney began his career in the ECHL for the Stockton Thunder and the Dayton Bombers before joining the Rapid City Rush of the Central Hockey League. In the ...

: 2006 *

Chris Moran Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Hugh Moran, (28 April 1956 – 26 May 2010) was a fast jet pilot and later a senior commander in the Royal Air Force. He was Commander-in-Chief of RAF Air Command, Air Command at the time of his unexpected death ...

: 2007 Most Valuable Player in Tournament * Kyle Martin: 2000 * Jeff Van Nynatten: 2004 * Ted Cook: 2008

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

* Blaise MacDonald: 2000 *

Dave Burkholder Dave Burkholder (born 1962) is a Canadian college ice hockey coach and former college player. He coached the Niagara University program from 2001 to 2017, taking over from Blaise MacDonald, a former teammate of his with the RIT Tigers. Burkhold ...

: 2006, 2007 Three-Star Player of the Year * Ted Cook: 2007 Student-Athlete of the Year * Vince Rocco: 2009

All-Conference teams

First Team All-CHA *1999–00:

, G;

Chris MacKenzie Christopher Neil Mackenzie (born 14 May 1972) is an English former footballer. He was a goalkeeper and most recently played for Corby Town in the Conference North. Career Mackenzie has also played for Hereford United and even scored a goal f ...

, D; Kyle Martin, F; Mike Isherwood, F *2002–03: Joe Tallari, F *2003–04: Jeff Van Nynatten, G; Barret Ehgoetz, F *2004–05: Barret Ehgoetz, F *2005–06:

, F *2006–07: Pat Oliveto, D;

, F; Ted Cook, F *2007–08: Juliano Pagliero, G; Ryan Annesley, D; Vince Rocco, F *2008–09: Juliano Pagliero, G *2009–10:

, F Second Team All-CHA *1999–00: Mikko Sivonen, F *2000–01: Bernie Sigrist, F *2001–02: Scott Crawford, D *2002–03: Barret Ehgoetz, F *2003–04: Andrew Lackner, D; Joe Tallari, F *2004–05: Ryan Gale, F *2005–06: Jeff Van Nynatten, G; Ted Cook, F;

, F *2006–07: Juliano Pagliero, G;

, F *2007–08: Tyler Gotto, D; Matt Caruana, F *2008–09: Tyler Gotto, D; Vince Rocco, F; Egor Mironov, F *2009–10: Tyler Gotto, D; Ryan Olidis, F All-CHA Rookie Team *2002–03: Brian Hartman, D; Jason Williamson, F *2003–04: Pat Oliveto, F *2005–06: Ted Cook, F;

, F *2006–07: Tyler Gotto, D;

, F *2007–08: Adam Avramenko, G *2008–09: Dan Baco, D *2009–10: Jason Beattie, F

Atlantic Hockey The Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) was an NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. Unlike several other ...

Individual awards

* Paul Zanette: 2011 * Carsen Chubak: 2013 Rookie of the Year * Ludwig Stenlund: 2019 *

Trevor Hoskin Trevor ( Trefor in the Welsh language) is a common given name or surname of Welsh origin. It is an habitational name, deriving from the Welsh ''tre(f)'', meaning "homestead", or "settlement" and ''fawr'', meaning "large, big". The Cornish langu ...

: 2025 Regular Season Goaltending Award *Chris Noonan: 2012 Regular Season Scoring Trophy * Paul Zanette: 2011

: 2013 Most Valuable Player in Tournament *Scott Champagne: 2005

All-Conference teams

First Team All-Atlantic Hockey *2010–11: Bryan Haczyk, F; Paul Zanette, F *2012–13: Carsen Chubak, G; Giancarlo Iuorio, F Second Team All-Atlantic Hockey *2011–12: Chris Noonan, G *2012–13: Dan Weiss, D Third Team All-Atlantic Hockey *2010–11: Ryan Annesley, D *2012–13: Kevin Ryan, D *2013–14: Kevin Ryan, D *2017–18: Derian Plouffe, F *2018–19: Noah Delmas, D; Ludwig Stenlund, F *2019–20:

Jack Billings Jack Billings (born 18 August 1995) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), having initially been drafted to the St Kilda Football Club. Billings played TAC Cup with O ...

, F Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Team *2010–11: Ryan Rashid, F *2013–14: Vinny Muto, D *2014–15: Keegan Harper, D *2018–19: Ludwig Stenlund, F *2019–20: Chad Veltri, G *2020–21: Josef Mysak, D *2021–22: Shane Ott, F

Niagara Purple Eagles Hall of Fame

The following is a list of people associated with the men's ice hockey program who were elected into the Niagara Purple Eagles Hall of Fame (induction date in parentheses). *

(2006) * Peter DeSantis (2007) * Mile Isherwood (2007) * Joe Tallari (2012) * Barret Ehgoetz (2013) * 1999-2000 Men's Team (2016)

Purple Eagles in the NHL

As of July 1, 2024. Source:

References

External links

Niagara Purple Eagles men's ice hockey
{{Atlantic Hockey America College ice hockey teams in New York (state) NCAA Division I men's ice hockey teams 1996 establishments in New York (state) Ice hockey clubs established in 1996

History

Season-by-season results

Head coaches

NCAA tournament appearances

Statistical leaders

Career points leaders

Career goaltending leaders

Roster

Awards and honors

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

All-Americans

CHA

Individual awards

All-Conference teams

Atlantic Hockey The Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) was an NCAA Men's Division I Ice Hockey conference which operates primarily in the northeastern United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division I as an ice hockey-only conference. Unlike several other ...

Individual awards

All-Conference teams

Niagara Purple Eagles Hall of Fame

Purple Eagles in the NHL

See also

References

External links