St. Bonaventure University

Seven weeks after Christmas, Niagara University got a lot of Cole in its stocking.

St. Bonaventure’s Cole Bailey scored late in the third period and 3:45 into overtime to give the Bonnies a thrilling 3-2 win over the Purple Eagles Thursday night to capture the Upstate New York Collegiate Hockey League title at NU’s Dwyer Arena.

Niagara came into the game 24-1, its only loss of the regular season on Dec. 6 to St. Bonaventure, 5-4.

Carson Schlager scored just 33 seconds into the third period to tie the title game for the Bonnies, but Niagara took the lead just 8 minutes later, setting the stage for Bailey’s late-game heroics. SBU outshot Niagara, 41-39.

“One of the grittiest games I’ve ever been a part of,” said Mike Cosentino, Bonnies’ head coach. “The guys stayed focused and never lost their composure.”

Rallying from multiple-goal deficits in the last two weeks gave the Bonnies confidence they could come back, Cosentino said. SBU trailed New Hampshire, 3-0, less than 8 minutes into their game Jan. 31, and were down 2-0 to Liberty on Feb. 7 before rallying to win both games.

The Bonnies have won 10 games in a row and went 14-0 on the road during the season, including the title game at Niagara.

Cosentino believed at the start of the season that balance and depth would be the keys to the team’s success. He was right.

Five players — Bailey, Michael Clouden, Tyler Menz, Michael Robertson and Ryan Levesque  — scored between 15 and 19 goals, and goalies Kyle Karoleski (9-3-1) and Tyler Kirk (9-2) had save percentages above .900.

“We got contributions from everyone, right down to our fourth line,” Cosentino said. “We just had an amazing group of guys.”

The Purple Eagles were ranked No. 1 in the latest American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II Northeast poll. The Bonnies, now 21-4-1, were ranked No. 3, behind only Niagara and Farmingdale State.

The victory automatically qualified the Bonnies for the ACHA Northeast Regional tournament Feb. 21-22 in Simsbury, Connecticut. Niagara also qualified as an at-large, as would the Bonnies had they lost.

Ranked No. 3 in the 16-team field, SBU will face No. 14 Sacred Heart (12-8-3) at 10 a.m. on Feb. 21. Winners of the eight games Saturday will be reseeded and square off on Sunday, Feb. 22.

The four remaining teams in each of the regionals — Northeast, Central, Southeast and West — will advance to the ACHA Division II National Tournament March 12-17 in St. Louis.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #8 for value and #19 overall by U.S. News and World Report (2025).