Albany, NY -- In the inaugural game of the ECAC/Crowne Plaza Faceoff Classic, Mike Isherwood's goal 40 seconds into overtime gave the Purple Eagles a win over the Braves of Quinnipiac.

Isherwood (1-2--3) picked up a loose rebound of a point shot by Timo Makela and pounded it past Brave goaltender Dan DiLeo.

The Purple Eagles had come back from a one-goal deficit in the third period to tie the game on a Kyle Martin score.

Niagara opened up the scoring in the first period when Jon Heffernan scored on the power play, but he was quickly answered by Quinnipiac's Chad Poliquin 1:18 later. Heffernan's second of the period gave the Purple Eagles the 2-1 lead after one period.

In the second, the Braves tied it up when Gordy Collins put one past Eagle netminder Greg Gardner, but Niagara quickly countered to retake the lead when Mikko Sivonen scored. Quinnipiac's Brian Herbert then tied the game at three apiece to end the second.

The Braves took a 4-3 lead on Neil Breen's goal before the Purple Eagles tied it one last time on Martin's goal.

"We are constantly trying to compete with the name on the front of the uniform," said Purple Eagle head coach Blaise McDonald. "We need to focus more on us than who we are playing against."

The Braves were playing without four of their best players as Shawn Mansoff, Terry Harris, Ryan Olson and Dan Ennis were suspended due to an NCAA rule regarding outside competition. Ennis will miss tomorrow's game against Rensselaer, while the others will be back in the lineup.

The Braves (0-1-0) will face the host Engineers at 8:00 p.m. in the final game of the Classic, while Niagara (2-1-0) gets Boston University at 5:00 p.m. in the first game Saturday.