Milford, Conn. – Three third-period goals and a shutout by sophomore Reilly Tuner (Temiscaming, Quebec) earned the Canisius College hockey team a 3-0 victory at Sacred Heart on Friday night. With the win, the Griffs improve to 2-3-0 on the season and 2-1-0 in Atlantic Hockey play, while the Pioneers drop to 2-2-1 and 1-1-0 against conference foes.
“It was a hard-fought college hockey game tonight and I’m very pleased to come away with the victory,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “It took all 18 skaters to get the win but Reilly Turner stood tall in net for us. We also received big special teams play and that was a key to victory.”
Senior Ralph Cuddemi (Concord, Ontario), junior Shane Conacher (Burlington, Ontario) and sophomore Ryan Schmelzer (Buffalo, N.Y.) all tallied goals in the third period to lead the Canisius offense.
Turner finished with 29 saves to post the first shutout of his collegiate career.
It was a scoreless opening two periods of play between the two teams but the story was the Canisius penalty kill in the first 45 minutes of play. Entering the game with a penalty kill unit of just 54.5 percent, the Griffs not only successfully kept the Pioneers off the scoreboard on five extra-man chances but did not allow a single shot while a man down.
Turner back-boned the strong defensive effort, making a number of saves in traffic and even keeping the Pioneers out of the goal on two breakaway attempts.
The offense then followed the defense’s example and scored three times in the final 13 minutes in the game. Conacher netted the game’s first goal with 12:31 remaining in regulation, scoring his team-best fourth goal of the season. After a pass from Schmelzer and a scrum in front, Conacher knocked the loose puck into the net for the 1-0 lead. Junior defender Geoff Fortman (Crystal Lake, Ill.) also added an assist on the tally.
The Griffs then held the Pioneers off long enough until they added to the lead with a late power-play tally. Schmelzer knocked in a rebound off a shot from Conacher with just 1:54 remaining in the game for the 2-0 advantage. Cuddemi also added an assist on Schmelzer’s second goal of the season.
Canisius sealed the victory with 56.4 seconds left when Cuddemi netted his third of the season, scoring on the empty net.
Sacred Heart finished the game with a 29-21 advantage in shots but couldn’t solve Turner on the night. The Griffs were 1-for-4 on the power play, while killing all five Pioneers extra-man chances.
Brett Magnus stopped 18 shots in defeat for Sacred Heart.
The schools wrap up the two-game series tomorrow night in Milford with game time slated for 7:05 p.m.
Game Notes: Conacher has registered a point in all five games this season and has a career-best six-game point streak dating back to last season … The Griffs’ top line of Conacher, Cuddemi and Schmelzer have now accounted for 90.9 percent of the team’s goals this season (10-of-11) … Canisius entered the game ranked last nationally in penalty kill … The Griffs are 11-2-2 in their last 15 meetings with Sacred Heart.
