West Point, N.Y. – Junior Ralph Cuddemi (Concord, Ontario) and freshmen Nolan Sheeran (East Amherst, N.Y.) and Reilly Turner (Temiscaming, Quebec) led the Canisius College hockey team to overcome a three-goal deficit in regulation for the first time in the program’s history as the Griffs earned a 6-4 road Atlantic Hockey victory at Army on Friday night. With the win, Canisius improves to 2-1-0 and 1-0-0 in league play, while the Black Knights drop to 1-2-0 overall and against Atlantic Hockey foes.
Cuddemi recorded the program’s 16th all-time hat trick in the rally, while Sheeran posted the first three points of his collegiate career, netting the game-winning third-period goal to go along with two assists. Turner played the final 27 minutes in net for the Griffs, stopping all 15 shots he faced in earning his first collegiate victory.
“The first half of tonight’s game was all Army as they out-worked, out-executed and was just the better team,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “We found a way to band together through good-hard work and good special teams to get this win. It’s a really good and important team win to open our league schedule and we now need to carry this forward.”
Sophomore Shane Conacher (Burlington, Ontario) and senior Matthew Grazen (Clarence, N.Y.) also added short-handed goals in the comeback victory.
Canisius needed the rally after Army dominated the opening 20 minutes of action, being rewarded with a 3-0 lead at the first intermission. The Black Knights got on the scoreboard 3:17 into the game when Joe Llaurado broke free from the Canisius defense and finished 1-on-1 for the 1-0 lead.
The Black Knights then took advantage of defensive miscues by the Griffs to stretch their advantage. Joe Kozlak buried his chance after a Canisius turnover from behind its net for the 2-0 lead 6:13 into the contest, forcing an early Griffs timeout. Brendan McGuire added to Canisius’ misery with his first tally when two defenders collapsed on one player on a rush, leaving McGuire open for the 3-0 Army advantage 10:44 into the contest.
Overall, Canisius did not register its first shot of the game until more than 14 minutes had ticked off the clock, while the Black Knights recorded the first 11 shots of the game. Overall, Army outshot the Griffs, 13-3, in the first 20 minutes of the contest in building its 3-0 lead.
The momentum turned toward the Griffs during the second period with Canisius netting three goals to one for the Black Knights. Conacher finally got the Griffs on the scoreboard with a short-handed goal. The sophomore skated from his own end and finished high, glove-side for his first tally of the season. Senior Braeden Rigney (Singhampton, Ontario) registered an assist on the short-handed goal.
Army quickly reclaimed its three-goal lead when Tyler Pham scored on the resuming power play. However, Cuddemi responded with two power-play goals in the final six minutes of the period to pull Canisius back within one. The junior netted his first of the day with 5:42 remaining when Sheeran’s back-door pass was tipped by senior Cody Freeman (Toronto, Ontario) right to Cuddemi, who finished on the open net for his first goal of the season.
The same three players would hook up on another Canisius power play just a little more than three minutes later. Cuddemi and Freeman connected on a give-and-go with Sheeran registering the second assist for 4-3 score after two periods of play.
Canisius then completed its comeback with three additional tallies in the third period. The Griffs were whistled for three-consecutive penalties to start the third, resulting in a total of 1:34 of Army 5-on-3 action. Not only did Canisius kill the power plays but Grazen scored a short-handed goal with 12:58 remaining to tie the game at four. Senior Tyler Wiseman (Burlington, Ontario) outskated the Army defenders to gain possession in the Black Knights’ zone. The senior then passed the puck back to classmate Stephen Farrell (Ottawa, Ontario) on the blue line, who fired a shot that was tipped into the back of the net by Grazen, knotting the game at four.
After Turner stopped an Army breakaway attempt, Sheeran gave the Griffs their first lead of the night with his first collegiate tally with 10:24 left in regulation. Sophomore defender Geoff Fortman (Crystal Lake, Ill.) gloved a clearance pass down at the blue line and then the rookie redirected Fortman’s shot past the Army netminder for the 5-4 advantage.
Canisius would seal the victory and the comeback when Cuddemi completed his hat trick, scoring an empty-net goal with 47.8 seconds remaining. Conacher added an assist on the game-clinching tally.
Overall, Army outshot the Griffs, 35-23, in the contest. Canisius won the special teams battle, 4-1, going 2-for-5 on the power play in addition to its two short-handed goals. The Black Knights were 1-for-6 with the extra-man advantage.
