The Canisius College hockey team returned to its winning ways on Saturday night, earning a 3-1 victory over Army at HARBORCENTER. With the win, the Griffs improve to 13-10-7 on the season and 12-6-6 in Atlantic Hockey play, while the Black Knights drop to 7-19-2 and 7-15-2 against league foes.
“We played a much better physical game today compared to yesterday,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “Army played well but we responded to the challenge. It started with some big penalty kills, big saves and some timely goals.”
Senior Tyler Wiseman (Burlington, Ontario), junior Ralph Cuddemi (Concord, Ontario) and sophomore Shane Conacher (Burlington, Ontario) all netted goals for the Griffs in the winning effort.
Senior Keegan Asmundson (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) stopped 17 shots to earn the victory in net.
Canisius opened the scoring in the contest thanks to Conacher’s ninth goal of the season. Senior defender Logan Roe (Fort Myers, Fla.) skated the puck in on a rush and found Conacher open in the slot. The sophomore then fired a wrist shot into the netting for the 1-0 lead with 5:35 remaining in the first. Cuddemi also added an assist on the game’s first tally.
Army tied the contest 4:42 into the second frame when C.J. Reuschlein gathered a loose puck in front of the net and buried his chance for the 1-1 game.
The momentum, however, tilted back toward the Griffs after Army was whistled for a five-minute major penalty. It took nearly all five minutes but Cuddemi finally put the Griffs ahead for good with his team-leading 18th goal of the season. With just five seconds remaining in the power play, senior Matthew Grazen (Clarence, N.Y.) fed the puck to Cuddemi in the slot and the junior swatted it in for the 2-1 lead. Senior Chris Rumble (Seattle, Wash.) added an assist on the extra-man tally with 5:01 remaining in the second.
The Griffs sealed the contest when Wiseman tallied his sixth goal of the season midway through the third. On a rush, senior Mitch McCrank (Haileybury, Ontario) got past his defender, setting up a 2-on-1. McCrank then found his classmate streaking toward the net and Wiseman knocked his pass into the goal for the 3-1 advantage. Senior Doug Beck (Plymouth, Mich.) also registered an assist on the goal with 11:06 left in the game.
Canisius then held off the Black Knights to end a three-game winless streak. Army had two power plays in the final 10 minutes of regulation but the Griffs penalty kill was up to the task the entire night, killing all six Black Knight extra-man chances and allowing only two shots in the 12 minutes of power plays.
The Griffs finished the game with a 27-18 advantage in shots, while going 1-for-5 on the power play.
Parker Gahagen took the loss in net for Army, recording 24 saves.
Canisius is back in action next weekend with a home-and-home series against Mercyhurst. The schools meet in Erie on Friday before Canisius hosts the Lakers on Saturday for Senior Night at 7:35 p.m.
Game Notes: The schools have split each of the last four series … Conacher and Cuddemi are once again tied for the scoring lead with 32 points … Canisius has allowed just 17 goals in its last 11 Atlantic Hockey games (1.55 goals per game) … Cuddemi has six power-play goals on the season … He is also two goals shy of becoming the fifth Griff in the program’s Division I era with 20 goals in a season.
