"It was a pretty thorough game by us. I felt we could have been a little bit more opportunistic," said Niagara head coach Blaise McDonald. "I felt we played solid in all three zones and once again our special teams worked good."

The Oilers started out strong as the Eagles seemed to be a bit off-key at first, not completing plays and missing passes. But, as the first period came to its midpoint, Niagara, the class of the nascent College Hockey America conference, regained its footing.

"We just wanted to work hard and still be into the game ten minutes into the game. I thought we did a good job, but 11 seconds later, they hit one-nothing," said Craig Barnett, Findlay head coach. "I was proud of our guys -- they worked hard."

The first of four Niagara goals came at the 10:11 mark in the frame, when Peter DeSantis knocked the puck past Oiler goalie Jim Brunner from near the net after receiving a pass from Jay Kasperek. After the goal, DeSantis was cheered by his own private section of fans -- a group of fifth-graders whom he student-teaches at a local elementary school.

During the second period, Niagara scored two power-play goals, the first by Chris MacKenzie, who rocketed the puck in from the blue line after a series of other tries in a five-on-four formation. John Heffernan got the rebound of a deflected shot at the circle and passed it to Timo Makela at the blue line. Makela passed it to MacKenzie and he took the shot.

Nine minutes later, in the same situation, Heffernan got another rebound and sent it to Mikko Sivonen across the ice at the other circle. Sivonen saw Nate Handrahan open at the line, fed him the puck, and Handrahan shot it in.

It could have been worse for Findlay, as Niagara had another goal disallowed as the third period started. DeSantis had taken the shot from in front of the net after being fed the rebound by Kasperek.

"I put in a rebound. I think Jay Kasperek knocked it out front but they said someone was in the crease so they disallowed the goal," said DeSantis. "He actually got pushed in there and they should have allowed it."

Minutes later, Mike Isherwood won the faceoff in the Oiler zone and got it to Heffernan, who slammed it into the back corner of the net before anyone knew what was happening, sealing the game.

Saturday night's game is going to be a very emotional one for the Eagles, as it will be not only be their final home game of the season, but the last home game for the first graduating class of seniors in Niagara's hockey history.

"The emotions we are going to feel are going to be unbelievable. This is the last time as a team that we get to put on our white jerseys," said DeSantis.

"It's bittersweet in a way because this is our last home game. I've been playing here for four years and I know that we've played a lot of good hockey here," said netminder Greg Gardner. "But in sense we have a lot more hockey to play for after this weekend; we know the season does not come to a close after Saturday night."

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