Freshman Nick Hutchison scored for the third straight contest and senior Charles Williams recorded 39 saves to lead the Canisius College hockey program to a 1-1 tie against American International in Atlantic Hockey Conference action Saturday at KeyBank Rink at HARBORCENTER.
The draw moved the Griffs’ record to 4-2-2 in league play and 5-7-2 overall. The Yellow Jackets saw their conference ledger shift to 3-3-4 and their season mark at 2-4-5.
Following a similar script from the series opener, Saturday’s matchup remained scoreless until the latter stages of the second period, when Hugo Reinhardt finished off a shorthanded break with 2:26 remaining the middle frame to give AIC 1-0 lead.
Hutchison drew the Griffs level 6:29 into the third with team-leading leading sixth goal of the campaign.
Sophomore Felix Chamberland started the sequence, forcing Yellow Jackets keeper Zackarias Skog into a turnover behind the AIC net. Chamberland then fed Hutchison in the slot, where he fired the puck into the open net for the equalizer.
The game headed to overtime, where Canisius had a pair of power play opportunities to net the game-winning goal, but the Yellow Jackets kept the Griffs off the scoreboard to preserve the tie.
Williams continued his stellar play between the pipes for the Griffins with his 39-save effort, highlighted by 15 stops in the second period to keep Canisius within striking distance. Skog finished with 33 saves for the Yellow Jackets.
Head Coach Dave Smith’s Postgame Comments
“The story of the game is that their power play gave them some momentum and our power play went 0-for-8. We didn’t have a great game. I thought AIC played well and I didn’t think we had a great game. Our standard is higher than that, but we were scrappy enough to get a point. We got good goaltending and we had a good penalty kill. We had lots of good things, but if we’re going to outright win every weekend we need to be better.”
Game Notes
• Canisius moved to 34-15-7 overall and 34-14-7 as Division I opponents versus AIC. The draw was the third in the last five meetings between the two programs.
• Williams recorded 30 or move saves for the seventh time this season. He moved to 2-3-2 in those contests.
• The Griffs extended their penalty-killing streak to 23 as they held the Yellow Jackets off the board in three shorthanded situations. Canisius has not allowed a power play goal in the month of November.
• Hutchison’s third-period goal was his first even strength marker of the campaign.
Chamberland recorded his third assist of the season with his helper on Hutchison’s third-period tally.
Up Next
Canisius continues its five-game homestand Friday, Nov. 25 with a 7:35 contest against Atlantic Hockey foe Mercyhurst at HARBORCENTER.
