2023–24 Niagara Purple Eagles men's ice hockey season

The 2023–24 Niagara Purple Eagles men's ice hockey season was the 28th season of play for the program, the 26th at the Division I level and the 14th in Atlantic Hockey. The Purple Eagles represented Niagara University, played their homes games at the Dwyer Arena and were coached by Jason Lammers in his 7th season.
==Season==
Niagara lost more than half of its players in the offseason but the biggest void was in goal. In losing their starter and likely replacement, the team brought in graduate transfer Jarrett Fiske to compete with Ryan Ouellette for the starting role. Fiske had a rather poor start to the season, surrendering 5 goals in 40 minutes to Omaha. Ouellette then became the starter for about a month but could not establish himself in the position. Fiske regain the starting job in early November and performed much better the second time around. He remained the primary netminder for the remainder of the year with Ouellette and Mitchell Day filling in now and again.
The offense, too, was in need of new leadership and got a boon with freshman forwards Tyler Wallace and Jack Richard. The two newcomers combined with upperclassmen Jay Ahearn and Carter Randklev to lead the offense and keep the team competitive on most nights.
After an up-and-down opening to the year, Niagara went through a very poor stretch in December and January, going 1–6 and putting themselves behind the 8-ball. They were able to arrest their slide with a win over RIT, the best team in the conference, and went 8–3–2 down the stretch. The improved play didn't quite get the team a bye into the quarterfinal round but it did afford them with home ice in the opening round of the playoffs.
Niagara opened its postseason with a fairly easy win over Army despite Richard being ejected for slew-footing in the first period. The major penalty resulted in the only goal for Army but otherwise didn't affect the outcome of the game. Niagara then faced Sacred Heart in the quarterfinals and found a opponent in the midst of a losing skid. The Eagles took full advantage and flew through the Pioneers' defense. Niagara scored 11 goals in two games, give Fiske all the goal support he needed for a sweep. Randklev was particularly outstanding, recording 6 points in the two games.
In the semifinals, Niagara found itself opposite RIT, who had lost the season series to the Purple Eagles despite finishing first in the standings. Niagara was hoping for more of the same but the Tigers did not take the underdogs lightly and kept to their defensive structure. Niagara piled on the shots in the opening game, recording 39 in regulation, but were only able to get one into the RIT cage, and even then they needed an extra attacker. The second saw RIT jump out to a 3–0 lead in the first period and Niagara had no answer. The Eagles were able to cut into the advantage in the final frame but it was too little too late and Niagara ended its season with a pair of losses.
Due to a snowstorm, the game against Mercyhurst scheduled on January 13 was postponed to a later date.
==Departures==
Lucas Bahn 	Defenseman		Graduation (retired)
Matt Cameron 	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Casey Carreau 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Kansas City Mavericks)
Ryan Cox 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Toledo Walleye)
Jack DeBoer 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with EHC Neuwied)
Mike Egan 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Pensacola Ice Flyers)
Zane Kindrachuk	Forward 		Left program (retired)
Ryan Naumovski 	Forward 		Graduate transfer to Augustana
Albin Nilsson 	Forward 		Graduate transfer to Miami
Jason Pineo 	Forward 		Graduation (signed with Wichita Thunder)
Jake Sibell 	Goaltender		Transferred to St. Thomas
Brandon Stanley	Forward 		Graduation (retired)
Chad Veltri 	Goaltender		Graduate transfer to Robert Morris
Jordan Wishman 	Defenseman		Graduation (signed with Wheeling Nailers)
==Recruiting==
Mitchell Day 	Goaltender		21	St. Louis, MO
Jarrett Fiske 	Goaltender		24	Erie, PA; graduate transfer from American International
Aron Jessli 	Forward 		18	Lørenskog, NOR
Steven Kesslering	Forward 		21	Viceroy, SK
Jaedon Leslie 	Forward 		25	St. Albert, AB; graduate transfer from Ohio State
Cole Mickel 	Defenseman		21	Broomfield, CO
Alex Murray 	Defenseman		23	Glenview, IL; transfer from Miami
Connor Mylymok 	Forward 		23	Jackson, MS; transfer from Alaska
Luke Mylymok 	Forward 		21	Wilcox, SK; transfer from Minnesota Duluth
Jack Richard 	Forward 		20	Stoney Creek, ON
Tyler Wallace 	Forward 		21	Calgary, AB
==Roster==
As of September 15, 2023.
==Standings==
==Schedule and results==
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season
|-
!colspan=12 style=";" | 
==Scoring statistics==
 	F 	37	11 	20 	31 	39
 	C 	39	13 	17 	30 	17
 	F 	34	10 	16 	26 	26
 	F 	34	10 	11 	21 	33
 	F 	39	9 	12 	21 	21
 	LW 	34	8 	12 	20 	4
 	F 	38	5 	15 	20 	25
 	C/W	38	9 	7 	16 	20
 	LW 	39	4 	10 	14 	33
 	D 	22	1 	12 	13 	10
 	D 	27	3 	9 	12 	10
 	D 	37	2 	10 	12 	28
 	LW 	37	6 	5 	11 	61
 	F 	29	2 	6 	8 	0
 	D 	27	2 	6 	8 	2
 	D 	37	2 	6 	8 	54
 	F 	19	4 	1 	5 	6
 	D 	28	2 	3 	5 	4
 	D 	33	2 	3 	5 	8
 	F 	21	3 	1 	4 	21
 	LW 	28	1 	3 	4 	0
 	D 	15	1 	2 	3 	2
 	G 	29	0 	3 	3 	0
 	F 	23	1 	1 	2 	4
 	D 	11	0 	1 	1 	2
 	F 	14	0 	1 	1 	8
 	G 	6 	0 	0 	0 	0
 	G 	8 	0 	0 	0 	0
Total	 	 	111	193	304	438
==Goaltending statistics==
 	29	1673:26	16	11	2	76 	788 	0	.912	2.72
 	8 	436:34 	1 	6 	1	20 	188 	0	.904	2.75
 	6 	221:47 	1 	1 	0	15 	113 	0	.883	4.06
Empty Net	- 	29:31 	- 	- 	-	11 	- 	-	- 	-
Total 	39	2361:18	18	18	3	122	1089	0	.899	3.10
==Rankings==
Poll 	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week	Week 	Week
Poll 	Pre 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	12 	13 	14 	15 	16 	17 	18 	19 	20 	21 	22 	23 	24 	25 	26 (Final)	
USCHO.com	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	
USA Today	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	– 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	NR 	
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 11 and 25.Note: USA Today did not release a poll in week 12.
==References==
Category:Niagara Purple Eagles men's ice hockey seasons
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