Pittsburgh, Pa. – The top two teams in the Atlantic Hockey standings showed why they reside at the top as the Canisius College hockey team and nationally-ranked Robert Morris skated to a 1-1 draw in a back-and-forth game on Saturday night. The Griffs are now 12-9-7 on the season and 11-5-6 in Atlantic Hockey play, while the 19th-ranked Colonials move to 20-5-5 and 17-3-4 against league foes.
“In a playoff atmosphere with high emotions and high intensity, we played hard and stuck to a game plan but just weren’t able to get a winner through despite 45 shots on net,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “We learned a lot from this weekend and our freshmen, especially, gained great experience in a wild game.”
Senior Cody Freeman (Toronto, Ontario) scored a late tally for the Griffs to rescue a point.
Freshman Reilly Turner (Temiscaming, Quebec) stopped 29 shots in net to anchor the Canisius defense.
Robert Morris gained the early advantage in the game, scoring 8:05 into the contest. After a Canisius turnover in its own zone, David Friedmann knocked a rebound into the net for the 1-0 lead.
The 1-0 score held late into the game but not before a number of big penalty kills by both schools. Canisius was whistled for a five-minute major penalty with 4:57 remaining in the first but held the Colonials off the scoreboard and only three shots to remain within one. Robert Morris then took its turn on the penalty kill and successfully held the Griffs without a tally in four different second-period extra-man chances.
The Griffs finally broke through late in the third period. After a shot from freshman Nolan Sheeran (East Amherst, N.Y.) was directed to the corner, senior Braeden Rigney (Singhampton, Ontario) chased after the puck and quickly sent it to the front of the net. An open Freeman knocked it into the net with just 105 seconds remaining in regulation to send the contest in overtime.
One night after the schools also finished regulation tied at one before Robert Morris finished a back-and-forth extra session with a tally, both teams had chances early in the overtime only to see each netminder come up with big saves. In the dying seconds of the game, the puck was loose in the Canisius goal crease but freshman Jeff Murray (Newmarket, Ontario) cleared the puck from danger. Overall, eight shots were fired on net in the five minutes of overtime only to see the game finish in a 1-1 tie.
Canisius finished the game with a season-high in shots, holding a 45-30 edge over the Colonials. Neither team was able to convert on the power play with Canisius going 0-for-6 and killing all three Robert Morris extra-man chances.
Terry Shafer recorded 45 saves for the Colonials.
The Griffs return to the ice next weekend with a pair of home games against Army. The schools are set to meet on Friday and Saturday at 7:35 p.m.
Game Notes: The season high for shots previously was 43 against AIC on Dec. 6, 2014 … Canisius is now 6-28-3 all-time against nationally-ranked schools … The Griffs earned their first point at 84 Lumber Arena in eight Atlantic Hockey meetings, moving to 0-7-1 … The home team is now 11-2-1 since the Colonials joined the conference … Canisius has now outscored conference opponents by a 31-12 margin in the third period … The Griffs’ seven ties are one shy of the school record, set in 2003-04.
