Junior Ryan Schmelzer led the way for the Canisius hockey program Saturday evening scoring a pair of goals, as the Griffs played to a 2-2 overtime tie against Robert Morris at KeyBank Rink at HARBORCENTER. With the tie, the Golden Griffins moved their record to 2-3-1 overall and 1-0-1 in Atlantic Hockey play, while the Colonials hold a record of 1-2-1 overall and are 1-2-1 in league play.
Robert Morris sophomore Alex Tonge began the night’s scoring with a goal at 11:37 of the first period to give the Colonials the 1-0 advantage.
The Griffs responded in the second period of action with Schmelzer’s first goal of the night at 5:21, on a deflected shot from senior Geoff Fortman to tie the contest at 1-1.
Schmelzer would find the back of net for a second time with 11:45 remaining in the third period to put the Griff in control 2-1.
As the third period progressed, the Griffs found themselves in a difficult three on five situation, after a boarding call on freshman Matt Hoover and a game misconduct to Schmelzer for contact to the head. The Colonials would take advantage of the opportunity with Tonge adding his second goal of the game to put the score at 2-2.
The game would to head to overtime, with neither team finding a way to score in the extra period, ending the game tied at two.
Senior goaltender Charles Williams stopped 32 shots, including 19 in the third period, moving his record to 2-1-1 on the year.
Head Coach Dave Smith’s Postgame Comments
“The message from tonight with our guys was that we battled really hard. We were on the penalty kill for nine of the twenty minutes of the third period, with our backs against the wall, we battled and found a way to get the point. We had the lead, but the game was a different story, we had to be strong in the penalty kill in the third and we were.
It starts with the goaltender, but it’s guys in the penalty kill like Jack Stander and Alex Jaeckle, those guys are playing every other shift when your down a man.”
Game Notes
• The Blue and Gold outshot the Colonials 36-34, while winning 40 of 75 total faceoffs.
• Canisius outshot Robert Morris 24-11 through the first two periods of play, while the Colonials held a 23-12 shot advantage in the third and overtime periods.
• Fortman now has four points to begin the year (1G, 3A), after totaling 14 points during his first three seasons.
• The weekend series marked the first time the Griffs have gone without a loss against Robert Morris in a two game set in program history.
Up Next
The Griffs will travel to Penn State next weekend, where they will face the Nittany Lions at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
