FAIRFIELD, Conn. (March 8, 2024) – Forty-three seconds. That's how long it took for the game to fall apart for the Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team in its postseason opener on Friday night. The third-seeded Pioneers led 2-0 at the midpoint of the game and 2-1 after the second period at Martire Family Arena, but seventh-seeded Niagara struck three times in just 43 seconds early in the third to flip the script.
 
Carter Randklev scored twice and added an assist, as the visiting Purple Eagles rallied for a 6-3 win in the first game of a best-of-three Atlantic Hockey quarterfinal series. Co-captain Braeden Tuck (Calgary, Alberta) scored twice in defeat for SHU.
 
The game turned early in the third period, as Niagara surged to the lead. A pinballing puck drew the Purple Eagles level at the 1:21 mark. Noah Carlin threw the puck towards the net from a sharp angle on the left side. It deflected off Jay Ahearn at the left post and found Randklev on the doorstep for the latter's ninth of the season.
 
Randklev's 10^th of the campaign came just 30 seconds later, as a rebound kicked out into the left circle. Randklev found it before anybody else could and buried a shot before the SHU defense could react, to give Niagara the lead at 1:51.
 
The Purple Eagles needed only 13 more seconds to push the lead out to 4-2. Jack Richard picked off a clearance attempt on the left half wall and sent it up to the left point for Jonathan Ziskie. Ziskie put a shot through traffic, which deflected off a Pioneer defender and wound up in the back of the net at 2:04.
 
Tuck got one back for SHU at 8:49, with his second of the night and sixth of the season. John Jaworski (Grinnell, Iowa) jumped out of the penalty box and straight into a partial breakaway, but was stymied by Jarrett Fiske at the right post. Jaworski corralled his own rebound and found the trailing Tuck at the left post for the one-time finish.
 
Niagara needed just 69 seconds to respond, as Jake Bongo (Ridgefield, Conn.) was penalized for a faceoff violation off the ensuing draw and the Niagara power play provided the dagger. Jack Richard was left unattended in the right circle and hammered home a cross-slot feed from Lars Rodne for his ninth of the year, at 9:58. Glebs Prohorenkovs eventually added a 150-foot empty-net goal at 19:11 to create the 6-3 final.
 
Earlier in the night, Tuck and Kevin Lombardi (Schwenksville, Pa.) built SHU a 2-0 lead. Tuck had a goalmouth finish on the power play at 14:09 of the first, while Lombardi ricocheted a shot home from a sharp angle on the right side at 4:05 of the second. Niagara got on the board at 13:25 of the second, as Tyler Wallace and Randklev executed a slick give-and-go on a 2-on-1, with the latter setting up the former's 12^th of the year.
 
Justin Robbins (New York, N.Y.) finished with 28 saves against 33 shots and suffered the loss (6-8-1) in the SHU net. Fiske (15-9-2) stopped 32 of 35 in the Niagara crease, including several big stops in a first period which saw SHU post an 11-6 shots advantage, as he kept the Purple Eagles from digging too deep a hole for themselves.
 
SHU will look to extend its season in Game 2 on Saturday night, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. at Martire Family Arena. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.