The Canisius College hockey team netted a season-best two power-play goals en route to a 4-1 victory over AIC on Sunday afternoon at the Buffalo State Sports Arena. With the win, the Griffs improve to 3-6-4 on the season, evening its Atlantic Hockey record to 2-2-2. The Yellow Jackets drop to 3-6-3 and 0-4-3 in league play.
“Our power play was the difference today as we were able to net two big goals that gave us the two-goal cushion late,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “It was a tight, hard-checking game tonight. We also gained a lot of confidence from our penalty kill – led by senior captains Torrey Lindsay and Preston Shupe – with two stops in the third. We rode that momentum from those kills and turned it into a power-play and insurance goal on the other end.”
Senior Torrey Lindsay (Grosse Isle, Manitoba), junior Kyle Gibbons (Westlake, Ohio) and sophomores Doug Beck (Plymouth, Mich.) and Matthew Grazen (East Amherst, N.Y.) each netted goals in the winning effort.
Junior defender Ben Danford (Stillwater, Minn.) and sophomore Mitch McCrank (Haileybury, Ontario) paced the Canisius attack with two assists on the afternoon.
Junior Tony Capobianco (Mississauga, Ontario) stopped 30 shots in goal to anchor the Canisius defense.
The Griffs took the early lead in the contest and never gave it back with Lindsay scoring 9:24 into the game. Lindsay knocked in a rebound off a McCrank shot for the 1-0 advantage and his second goal of the season. Senior Preston Shupe (Weyburn, Saskatchewan) also posted an assist on the go-ahead tally.
Gibbons stretched the Canisius advantage to two with a power-play tally at the 14:39 mark of the opening period. McCrank sent a cross-ice pass through the slot and Gibbons fired it in for the 2-0 lead. Danford added his first assist on the day on the Gibbons’ third score of the season.
The 2-0 lead would hold until the third period when AIC scored 7:27 into the frame. Brandon Fagerheim knocked in the puck on an open net after a cross-ice pass to bring the Yellow Jackets within one, 2-1.
Canisius reclaimed its two-goal advantage when Beck netted the team’s second power-play tally of the game with 5:29 remaining in regulation. Beck ripped a shot into the back of the net off a rebound for the 3-1 lead. Danford and Gibbons both posted an assist on Beck’s third goal of the season.
The Griffs then sealed the win when Grazen netted an empty-net goal with 32 seconds left. Lindsay and senior Ben Parker (Port Perry, Ontario) both posted assists as Canisius finished off the 4-1 victory.
AIC had a slight edge in shots on the afternoon, 31-27. The Griffs were 2-for-5 on the power play, while killing all three of the Yellow Jackets’ extra-man advantages. Chandler Long recorded 23 saves in net for AIC.
