Milford, Conn. – The Canisius College hockey team lost a tight battle on the road at Sacred Heart, falling 3-2 on Friday night. The loss evens the Griffs record to 4-4-1 and 3-2-0 in Atlantic Hockey play, while the Pioneers improve to 3-5-1 and 3-3-1 in league play.
“There were a lot of good things that we can build from this game,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “When you lose a game, however, you feel there is an opportunity to get better and there are certainly areas we need to improve on. It’s tough to win on the road and we saw that tonight with the way Sacred Heart played.”
Junior Chris Rumble (Seattle, Wash.) and sophomore Josh Kielich (Orchard Park, N.Y.) both scored for the Griffs in the defeat.
Senior Keegan Asmundson (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) finished with 25 saves to anchor the Canisius defense.
The Griffs struck first in the contest, scoring on a 5-on-3 power play just 3:07 into the contest. After rotating the puck around, junior Ralph Cuddemi (Concord, Ontario) found Rumble open on the goal line and the junior buried his chance high for the 1-0 lead. Sophomore Shane Conacher (Burlington, Ontario) also registered an assist the game’s opening goal.
The Pioneers pulled even midway through the first frame, scoring with9:23 left in the period. Jacob Brightbill finished on a wrap-around attempt for the 1-1 game through one.
Kielich helped the Griffs reclaim the lead, netting his first collegiate goal 4:59 into the second. On a rush, freshman Ryan Schmelzer (Buffalo, N.Y.) passed back to Kielich in the slot and the sophomore finished high and glove-side for the 2-1 lead. Freshman Mike Sabatini (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) also registered an assist on the tally.
Sacred Heart once against drew even, scoring on a rush of its own. David Iacono crashed the net and was able to knock the loose puck in for the 2-2 game with 5:44 remaining in the second. The Pioneers then took their first lead of the night with 1:24 left in the period when Drew George scored after a long possession on the power play, giving Sacred Heart a 3-2 advantage through 40 minutes.
Canisius entered the game with the most third-period goals in the country this season but couldn’t covert on this night. The Griffs had their chances with a breakaway while a man down only to see the Sacred Heart netminder glove it down. Canisius also had a number of great looks on the back door but couldn’t quite get the shot off.
Both team fired 28 shots on net and converted one power play opportunity (three chances for Canisius and five for Sacred Heart).
Andrew Bodnarchuk stopped 26 shots to earn the victory in net.
