Day One Gallery

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— After landing its fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history, the Niagara hockey team started its trip to Grand Rapids, Mich. yesterday afternoon where the Purple Eagles will face off against the University of North Dakota on Friday in the West Regional Semifinals.  

In the last week, the swarm of media following was a welcomed sight after a bid to the NCAA tournament was finalized during the selection show last Sunday.  Every local television station, along with the Niagara Gazette and Buffalo News were a daily fixture at the rink. 

A handful of the media was on hand to send off NU after snapping some photos, and grabbing some interviews.  You can watch here from YNN’s newscast as Antoinette DelBel caught up with the team before heading to Michigan.  At 12:30, Wednesday afternoon, the bus was headed on a seven-hour trek to Grand Rapids.  Everyone was in good spirits on the bus ride—watching the movie Rookie of the Year did not hurt in keeping all the Purple Eagles loose on the bus. 

The team arrived in Grand Rapids around 7 p.m., stopping at the Van Andel Arena to unload the bus.  It was a great feeling to see Niagara’s name on the boards alongside the other three squads in the West Regional bracket—no doubt pumping up the team for the upcoming battle with UND on Friday.  After checking into the hotel and enjoying team meal, the group called it a night to get ready for Thursday’s activities.          

Thursday was a big media day, with ESPN and other outlets getting their chance to meet the Purple Eagles.  At 12:30, Niagara headed to the Val Andel Arena where ESPN was waiting to interview some of the members of the team.  ESPN announcers Joe David, and Sean Ritchlin spoke to a handful of NU athletes off camera, including Ryan Rashid, Hugo Turcotte, Kevin Ryan, Kevin Albers and Marc Zanette.  Giancarlo Iuorio, and juniors Ryan Murphy and Carsen Chubak did some on-camera interviews before head coach Dave Burkholder sat in with the ESPN crew as well.    

The most important part of the day came in the early afternoon when Niagara had the ice for one hour where Coach Burkholder and his staff conducted a full practice in preparation for the Friday evening puck drop.  The 60 minutes gave the guys a chance to stay sharp and stretch out the legs.        

After practice was in the books, more interviews followed as NU’s top line—Iuorio, Zanette and Murphy—and Chubak were interviewed by YNN’s Andy Young and George Blas who made the trip up to Grand Rapids from Buffalo to document Niagara’s journey in the NCAA Tournament.  Afterwards, the team took in a few minutes of their opponent’s practice before heading back to the hotel.    

Tomorrow, the Purps have a pre-game skate at 10:45 in the Van Andel Arena.  Come 5:30 p.m. ET, all eyes on the college hockey world will be fixed on the Purple Eagles and North Dakota. 

Take a look at the gallery from today’s practice, and check back tomorrow for more photos from morning skate.