MEN'S HOCKEY: Niagara to honor hockey pioneers

By Tim Schmitt

For now, it’s a poster and an intermission tribute. But ask Dr. Jon Marshall, and the story of the 1999-2000 Niagara University men’s hockey team might have attracted a national spotlight if it happened on a football field or basketball court.

“In any other sport, that’s a book or a movie,” Marshall said. “If you look at what we did in four years, to take a bunch of guys like that and in the third year beat the defending national champions, then win a game in the (NCAA) Tournament in our fourth year, that’s a pretty incredible story.”

In honor of the program’s magical run a decade ago under coach Blaise MacDonald, one that culminated in a first-round NCAA Tournament victory over New Hampshire, posters with a team shot will be given out to the first 500 fans who come to today’s 2 p.m. matinee against UMass-Amherst. Also, a number of the players from that team — aptly named the “Program Pioneers” — will take part in a ceremony during the first intermission.

Although the Purple Eagles have had good teams since, sending a number of players into professional hockey, none has matched the NCAA Tournament win, or the team’s 30-8-4 mark.

That record becomes even more impressive when you realize most of the members of the roster weren’t offered scholarships to play elsewhere.

“I think everyone had a chip on their shoulder,” said Dave Burkholder, who was an assistant for MacDonald then, and now has eight full seasons as the program’s head coach under his own belt. “I think they’d be the first to admit they were the leftovers. Everyone had an edge. They wanted to prove to the other Division I schools that, ‘hey, you missed me.’ I think we did a really good job with those kind of kids.”

“I’d have been playing in a men’s league,” Marshall added with a laugh. “No, I had another year of eligibility at the junior level and I would have probably stayed there and then maybe played college hockey in Canada. But then out of nowhere, I got a call from Blaise. When we started, I probably had no business playing college hockey. But Blaise and Burkie were such great teachers, they showed guys like me the way.”

Although that year finished with a tremendous 4-1 victory over New Hampshire, the season started rocky — Niagara lost 4-0 at Alaska-Anchorage.

Marshall said that might have been exactly what a team that was starting to get accolades needed.

“After coming off a season like we did our third year, we expected it was a given we’d beat teams like that,” Marshall said. “It showed that hey, you guys aren’t such a big deal after all. There’s a lot of parity in college hockey and you need to come out hard every night. That came at a good time for us.”

From there, though, the Purple Eagles maintained their focus, defeating perennial powerhouses like Boston University, RPI, and Colorado College. Even the losses were close — Niagara dropped a 2-1 decision to St. Lawrence, which reached the Frozen Four.

So by the time the Purple Eagles met New Hampshire at Minnesota’s Mariucci Arena in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, most of the team’s players weren’t worried about their sixth seed.

“It’s funny, we were sitting in the stands with Michigan State watching another team practice and one of their guys turned to one of ours and said, ‘is this the team that shouldn’t be here?’ He was talking about us,” said Pete DeSantis, a LaSalle High School product who finished that season with 44 points in 42 games. “We definitely had that in our minds when we went out there. We knew we should be there, but nobody else did.”

The Purple Eagles started quickly, as Randy Harris and Kyle Martin scored in the first period on New Hampshire goalie Ty Conklin, and Mikko Sivonen added another midway through the second.

“We knew we had to get the puck in there end and jump on them quick,” DeSantis said. “We came out at them with a lot of intensity.”

Although the Wildcats got a goal early in the third, Sivonen iced it with an empty netter, sending the Purple Eagles into uncharted territory.

“We didn’t need to be told things. We didn’t have to be told you had to do extra things off the ice. We knew it was our last shot at playing a high level of hockey,” Marshall said. “And what made it so fun was that we had a lot of unique personalities. If you take us apart, we weren’t that great.

“But together we were.”

GAME DAY

UMass-Amherst at Niagara

• WHEN: 2 p.m.

• WHERE: Dwyer Arena

• RADIO: 1440 AM

• NOTES: Niagara coming off their worst showing of the year, a 4-1 loss at UMass on Friday. In that game, freshman Andrew Hare got his first start. ... Niagara is now (0-6-1), but Friday’s loss was the first by more than a goal. ... Niagara kept UMass’ top four scorers off the scoresheet. ... Posters commemorating the 1999-2000 team that recorded the program’s only NCAA Tournament will be given out to the first 500 fans in attendance. Also, a ceremony will be held for the team during the first intermission.

Contact sports editor Tim Schmitt at 282-2311, ext. 2266.