Men’s Ice Hockey Drops Narrow Contest to Nazareth, 5-4

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – On the final day of the Comfort Inn Complex Winter Classic at Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena, the Rivier men's ice hockey team completed the tournament with a 5-4 loss to the Golden Flyers of Nazareth. 

The Raiders now sit at 6-7-2 while the Golden Flyers collected just their second win of the season, moving to 2-8-2 overall and 1-5-2 in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC).  

After a quick goal at 1:20 in the first from Riv's Tyler Duderstadt with assists from Jon Tavella and Nicolas Paolucci, Nazareth put away three unanswered goals to claim the lead at 3-1 to head into period two.  

The Golden Flyers earned their fourth goal of the contest at 6:33 of the second, increasing their lead by three. Still hot from the first period, Duderstadt buried a power play goal at the 12:30 mark with assists credited to Cormac Hayes and Tavella. At 13:17 of the second, Tavella contributed with a goal this time taking advantage on the power play with assists given by Carter Poulin and Duderstadt, to cut the Raiders deficit to one.  

Nazareth tallied another goal at 8:30 of the third, increasing their lead to 5-3. Rivier fought until the final buzzer, with a final goal of the contest from Damon Kiyawasew, connected by Poulin and Hayes coming with just over a minute left. The comeback bid proved to be too late as the Golden Flyers held on to secure the win. 

Nazareth outshot the Raiders by 21, 41-20. Rivier's goaltender Will Augustine made 36 saves this afternoon.  

The Raiders will travel home to face Potsdam on Tuesday, January 9, with a puck drop of 7:10 PM at Conway Arena.