For the Battle of the Bridge Rivals, both of them want a better fait than their early Atlantic Hockey exits last season. Both Jason Lammers and Trevor Large have veteran teams coming back to campus, and each of them have a goal to do far better than last season.

Niagara-Transfers bring more

The Purple Eagles have a lot of transfers coming in to fill key positions. First among them is defender Lucas Bahn. The former Alabama Huntsville Charger has been working out and skating while finishing his undergraduate degree. Now he slots in to a Niagara defense group that has a lot of physical prowess to it but not a lot of what Bahn brings. Lucas is a cerebral player that is adept at making everyone else around him better. If he can translate that into the Niagara group filled with mainly defensive defenders, he can give the Purple Eagles some depth that will help their forwards use their speed better and increase overall goals per game. He will compliment veteran forward transfer Casey Carreau. Casey should get a big early chance to add some more scoring to the front lines of Niagara, and provide a similar different element to help the Purple Eagles move forward.

Canisius-Goaltending first

This Golden Griffins team will go as far as Jacob Barczewski will take them. He projects to be the best goaltender in Atlantic Hockey this season. He has the size and quickness that make him an ideal goalie to get a look at the next level to. Jacob leads the way for Canisius.

In addition, look for players like Keaton Mastrodonato to take his game to the next level and compete for conference MVP. The Battle of the Bridge for these teams will go a long way to determining how the postseason goes for these teams and both have a case for being the better of the two teams.

Donate: To help us cover more games and tell more stories not found elsewhere about all of college sports, especially under represented athletes everywhere across the college sports landscape like unique untold stories across college hockey. Please click the below link and consider donating what you can. If you do, I will list you in every story we write as a supporter of crowd-funded journalism that can truly be free for all at this link.

Donate