The goal capped a third-period comeback in which the Purple Eagles tallied twice in the game's final 15 minutes. That allowed Niagara to climb back into a game that they were never really in, thanks in part to some phenomenal goaltending by Brown's Brian Eklund, making his second consecutive start in goal.

Isherwood squeezed a puck between Eklund's blocker and the goal line on a tough shot from the blue line, with the Purple Eagles playing with an empty net.

"Right now it's a matter of having confidence for us," said Brown head coach Roger Grillo. "When you're scoring, things just seem to work out a certain way. The mentality is sometimes difficult to get. For some guys it's natural, but some need to work a little harder for it."

The Bears took a 1-0 lead at the 4:20 mark of the first, as freshman wingman Chris Legg skated effortlessly around the Niagara goal, circled toward Niagara goalie Greg Gardner's left and fed a pass into the slot for a cutting Paul Esdale, leaving his spot on the blue line. Esdale belted a low slapper past Gardner to give the Bears the edge at the first intermission, 1-0.

Eklund kept the Bears in the game in the first, making 17 stops. With just under two minutes in the period and a screen set in front of him, Eklund somehow managed to get a glove on a low shot from the stick of Peter Ricketts, and then jumped on the rebounded shot by Mikko Sivonen.

Most of the second period fell into a lull, with only 13 shots on goal between the two teams. However, the Bears' defense and Eklund allowed Niagara few opportunities to score, just as Brown seemed to be struggling at the same time.

With under a minute left in the period, Jon Petricig stole the puck at neutral ice and sent a pass across the zone to junior Doug Janjevich, who broke toward the net and lifted a shot that handcuffed Gardner and fell into the net, giving Brown the two-goal advantage.

"I thought we played well in the second, but their goalie came up big on a couple of chances," Grillo said.

Unfortunately, the third period would be all Niagara on the scoreboard, as Brown was unable to put the Purple Eagles away. Peter DeSantis circled behind Eklund and fed a puck in front for Jay Kasperek. Kasperek dinged the puck in off the far post to put the Eagles on the board.

The Bears struggled to regain momentum after the goal, as Niagara dominated possession of the puck and did not allow the Bears out of their own end. However, the Bears had an opportunity to put Niagara on ice while on the power play with just under five minutes left in the game. Freshman Keith Kirley took a pass off a faceoff in front of Gardner, but he was unable to get a stick to the puck, and the Eagles cleared it away.

"We were okay until they scored that first goal," Grillo said. "Right now, our confidence is so fragile that if things don't go well, we panic and get out of our routine."

Dominating the control of the puck, Niagara was able to pull their goalie and set the stage of Isherwood's tally. Overtime saw only three combined shots, though junior winger Matt Kohansky almost ended it with 1:15 left by sending a pass across the crease that neither Kirley nor Michael Bent could get a blade on.

For Brown, the disappointment of losing and tying two games that they easily could have won is what stings most.

"Realistically, we played pretty well this weekend," Grillo said. "We ran into a pretty hot goalie. The reality of it is that we scored four goals against PC on Tuesday and we scored three goals in two games this weekend."

However, the two games were great for Eklund, who made 30 and 36 saves, respectively, almost single-handedly backstopping Brown as the Bears' offense struggled.

"We found a pretty good goalie in our locker room too," Grillo said after complementing the Purple Eagles' Gardner, who made 27 saves on Saturday. "He played a great first for us and kept us alive."

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