Rochester, N.Y. – The Canisius College hockey team battled for 60 minutes on Saturday night to earn a 6-3 victory at RIT – the team’s first win in Rochester over its conference foe since 2007. With the win, the Griffs improve to 2-5-3 on the season and 1-1-1 in Atlantic Hockey play, while the Tigers drop to 2-6-1 and 1-3-1 in league play.
“It was an aggressive, hard-earned victory tonight that we will look to build on in the future,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “We did a good job of limiting their chances and when we got the 4-3 lead, we played our best hockey to earn two hard points.”
Junior Patrick Sullivan (Derby, N.Y.) led the Griffs with a personal-best three points on the night, netting his first career multi-goal game – including the game-winning third-period tally – and adding an assist.
Senior Preston Shupe (Weyburn, Saskatchewan), juniors Kyle Gibbons (Westlake, Ohio) and Taylor Law (Markham, Ontario) and sophomore Mitch McCrank (Haileybury, Ontario) also added a goal for the Griffs in the winning effort.
Junior Tony Capobianco (Mississauga, Ontario) recorded 36 saves to earn his first victory of the 2012-13 campaign.
Both teams took advantage of early rebound opportunities to get on the scoreboard in the opening frame. The Griffs struck first in the contest, netting a goal just 12 seconds into the game. After a RIT turnover, Sullivan gained possession of the puck and fired a shot on goal from the boards. The rebound squirted out in front and Gibbons knocked it in for his first tally of the season and the early 1-0 advantage.
The Tigers knotted the contest with 11:55 remaining in the first stanza. Jeff Smith hammered in a rebound for his fifth goal of the season and to knot the game at one.
In the second period, Canisius once again started the frame strong, netting two goals in the opening 1:34 of the stanza. Sullivan gave the Griffs the lead with his first goal of the season, scoring just 26 seconds into the period. The junior knocked in his own rebound with assists to Gibbons and sophomore Doug Beck (Plymouth, Mich.) as Canisius claimed the 2-1 lead.
Law then got on the scoreboard just 68 seconds later to extend the Griffs advantage to two. On a 2-on-1 rush, sophomore Tyler Wiseman (Burlington, Ontario) fed Law and the junior finished high for his second goal of the season and the 3-1 lead. Sophomore Braeden Rigney (Singhampton, Ontario) also posted an assist on the tally.
The Tigers answered back and netted two second-period goals of their own as the teams headed into the final frame tied at three. Chris Saracino brought RIT within one with 5:12 remaining in the period, firing a shot in through a number of screens. Adam Mitchell then tallied a power-play goal with 1:47 left, scoring on a wrist shot from close range.
Sullivan once again came up big in the third stanza, scoring an unassisted goal 7:28 into the period for a lead the Griffs would not relinquish. The junior took the puck from a RIT defender from behind the net and then snuck a shot in from the bottom of the face-off circle for the 4-3 advantage.
The defense would take it from there, shutting the door on the Tigers to earn the victory. The Griffs also added two empty-net goals for the 6-3 win. Shupe netted his second goal of the season with 1:24 remaining with assists to senior Torrey Lindsay (Grosse Isle, Manitoba) and sophomore Logan Roe (Fort Myers, Fla.), while McCrank finished the scoring with an unassisted tally – his second goal of the season – with 54 seconds left.
RIT finished the contest with a slight advantage in shots, 39-36. The Tigers were 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Griffs went 0-for-2 with the extra-man advantage. Josh Watson stopped 30 shots in net in the loss for RIT.
Canisius continues Atlantic Hockey play next weekend, hosting Battle of the Bridge rival Niagara on Friday. Game time at the Buffalo State Sports Arena is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
