Syracuse, N.Y. - The Niagara University men's ice hockey team received a strong performance from freshman goaltender Rob Bonk with 36 saves to give the Purple Eagles a 4-2 victory against Colgate in the Syracuse Invitational Tournament held in the Syracuse War Memorial.

Niagara advances to the SIT championship game on Sunday at 4 p.m. versus the winner of the Clarkson/Cornell game later this evening, while Colgate will play the loser in the consolation game at 1 p.m.

Nick Kormanyos netted the game-winner and added a helper to provide the offense for the Purple Eagles, while Bonk withstood a 73 Colgate shot attempt barrage and recorded 13 saves in both the second and third periods.

"We knew we were going to have trouble scoring goals this season losing almost 50 goals of scoring from last year's team," Colgate head coach Don Vaughan said. "But, we put a lot of rubber on their goaltender tonight with 73 total shots attempted, but we just couldn't get a bounce."

Joe Tallari put the Purples Eagles on the board with a slapshot from the point with helpers from Timo Makela and Randy Harris at 6:57 of the first.

Chad MacDonald evened the score at 1-1 as Colgate crashed the net and he got a stick on a shot from Etienne Morin that deflected to MacDonald on the right crease.

Chris Sebastian made it 2-1 Niagara at 2:20 of the third and then just over two minutes later Kormanyos scored the eventual game-winner at 4:59.

"We have to find a way to keep positive and good things will happen," Vaughan added. "But the lessons that need to be learned are that we can't ever let down and that hurt us tonight as we let in some goals that we shouldn't have."

Mike O'Malley cut the Purple Eagles advantage to one with an unnassisted marker at 15:10 of the third. The Red Raiders mounted another fierce attack on the net and the puck squirted from traffic in front of the net and O'Malley pounded it home.

Colgate nearly tied the game with several strong attempts with a sixth-attacker playing the final minute with goaltender Jason Lefevre pulled, but the puck didn't bounce the Red Raiders way. Lefevre went the distance for the Red Raiders stopping 17 shots.

Hockey Game Box Score (Final)
Niagara vs Colgate (Nov 25, 2000 at Syracuse, N.Y.)
Niagara (3-7-3) vs. Colgate (2-7-2)
Date: Nov 25, 2000 Location: Syracuse, N.Y. Arena: Syr. War Memorial
Attendance:1747 Start time:4:00 End time:6:28 Total time:2:28

Goals by Period 1 2 3 Tot
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Niagara............. 1 0 3 - 4
Colgate............. 1 0 1 - 2