Lewiston, N.Y. – The top line for the Canisius College hockey team, consisting of junior Ralph Cuddemi (Concord, Ontario), sophomore Shane Conacher (Burlington, Ontario) and freshman Ryan Schmelzer (Buffalo, N.Y.), dominated for the Griffs in a 6-4 victory against their rival Niagara on Saturday night.
The line directly led to all six Canisius tallies, combining for four goals and seven assists as the Griffs extended their unbeaten run to seven games – the longest for the program in the regular season in 14 years. Canisius, who now shares the nation’s longest active unbeaten streak, improves to 12-8-6 on the season and 11-4-5 in Atlantic Hockey after the sweep over its local rival.
“It was great weekend full of effort and character,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “We had to work hard for it and now we take a week off, rest up and try to keep the momentum going in two weeks against a very good Robert Morris team.”
Cuddemi and Conacher both recorded a career-best four points in the winning effort. Cuddemi netted two goals to go along with two assists, while Conacher matched the program’s Division I record with four assists on the night. Schmelzer added a personal-best three points on two goals and one assists, while also posting a team-best plus/minus rating of +5 in the winning effort.
Senior Mitch McCrank (Haileybury, Ontario) and junior Chris Rumble (Seattle, Wash.) rounded out the scoring for Canisius with a goal apiece.
Senior Keegan Asmundson (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) posted 24 saves to anchor the Canisius defense.
For the second-straight game between the two rivals, Canisius opened the scoring midway through the first period only to see Niagara answer right back. Cuddemi put the Griffs ahead with his third goal of the series and team-best 15th of the season 9:09 into the game. Conacher found Cuddemi wide open in the slot and the junior made a couple moves to find an opening and beat the Niagara goalie. Senior Logan Roe (Fort Myers, Fla.) also registered an assist on the tally.
Niagara (3-19-2, 3-13-2 Atlantic Hockey) responded with a goal just 49 seconds later when Robert Angiolella found the back of the net on the power play to tie the game at one.
Unlike the previous game in the series, however, Canisius did not wait until the final frame to pull ahead with three second-period tallies. Rumble gave the Griffs the lead for good when he connected on a rush for his fifth tally of the season. Cuddemi passed the puck back to his classmate and Rumble ripped a shot into the net for the 2-1 lead 10:56 remaining in the period.
McCrank then stretched the Canisius advantage with a power-play goal just 78 seconds later. On a rush, Cuddemi found Conacher at the boards and Conacher passed the puck to McCrank, who was streaking down the middle of the zone. The senior knocked the puck in for his seventh goal of the season and a 3-1 lead with 9:38 remaining.
Schmelzer finished the scoring in the second period with his fourth goal of his rookie campaign. Conacher and senior Tyler Wiseman (Burlington, Ontario) held the puck up in the offensive zone while the Griffs went through a line change. Conacher then made a nice pass and found Schmelzer streaking to the goal from the bench and the freshman buried his chance for the 4-1 lead with 7:01 left in the period.
Overall, Canisius scored its three goals in a 3:55 span to take a comfortable lead into the intermission and chase the Niagara netminder in the process.
Niagara, however, did not go away quietly. The Purple Eagles attempted to fight back in the contest and it started with a fortunate bounce with 12:49 remaining. Niagara attempted to dump the puck into the zone along the boards but the puck took an awkward bounce in the corner where the door is and went into the slot. Alone in front, TJ Sarcona fired the puck in for the 4-2 score.
The Purple Eagles then pulled within one, 4-3, when Kevin Patterson netted a short-handed goal with just 3:14 remaining in the contest.
Schmelzer answered back for the Griffs, though, with his second tally of the night. Conacher chipped the puck up the boards and Schmelzer made two nice moves to beat Niagara defenders before beating the Purple Eagle netminder stick-side, giving Canisius the 6-4 lead with 2:05 remaining.
Niagara made one last push and pulled back within one, 5-4, with 38.5 seconds remaining when Angiolella scored an extra-attacker goal. However, it was too late as Canisius sealed the victory when Cuddemi netted his second goal of the night (and 16th of the season) with the empty net – assists going to senior Cody Freeman (Toronto, Ontario) and Schmelzer.
The Purple Eagles finished the contest with a slight advantage in shots, 28-24. Both teams netted one power play goal in four Canisius attempts and three for Niagara.
Jackson Teichroeb stopped 11-of-15 shots he faced before giving way to Adrian Ignagni, who took the loss while stopping 7-of-8 shots on net.
Canisius now must wait two weeks to extend its unbeaten streak as the Griffs return to the ice on Friday, Feb. 6. The top two teams in the Atlantic Hockey standings are set to battle in Pittsburgh, beginning at 7:05 p.m.
Game Notes: The Griffs’ seven-game unbeaten streak is the longest in the regular season since the team also went seven-straight games without a loss from Feb. 11 to March 2, 2001 … Canisius now owns the nation’s longest active unbeaten streak (tied with Michigan) after Minnesota State lost to Bemidji State on Saturday … The Griffs top line contributed to 8-of-10 goals during the sweep and have now led to 59.2 percent of the team’s goals during the season (42-71) … Conacher is the seventh Griff to record four assists in a game in the program’s Division I history and the first since Josh Heidinger did on Feb. 21, 2010 against AIC … Schmelzer leads the team with a plus/minus of +14 during his rookie season … Canisius won consecutive regular-season games against its rival for only the second time and for the first time since 2000 and 2001 … It marks the first time that a team swept a regular-season series in the rivalry … The Griffs now lead the Battle of the Bridge series – an all-sports competition between the two schools – by a margin of 11-5.
