Canisius scored four goals in the second period to break open a close contest and record a 5-2 victory over RIT in game one of their 2021 Atlantic Hockey Tournament quarterfinal round series Friday at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
Freshman Cooper Haar, sophomore David Melaragni, junior J.D. Pogue and senior Austin Alger all found the back of the net during the middle frame for the Golden Griffins (9-5-0), who took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series with Friday’s victory. Sophomore Ryan Miotto opened the scoring with a first-period tally and added an assist for a two-point evening.
Sophomore goaltender Jacob Barczewski matched his season high with 35 saves between the pipes for Canisius as the Tigers (9-8-2) held a 37-23 shot advantage for the contest.
With the score tied at 1-1 at the start of the second, Haar gave the Griffs a 2-1 lead less than four minutes into the middle frame, beating RIT goaltender Ian Andriano with a wrist shot to the blocker side from the middle of the slot for his first collegiate tally.
Melaragni expanded the Canisius advantage to 3-1 at the 8:39 mark of the second, depositing a centering feed from junior Mitchell Martan over the glove of Andriano for his second of the season.
Pogue stretched the margin to 4-1 with a shorthanded tally just past the midway point of the period, beating Andriano with a wrist shot to the blocker side from the right faceoff circle for his fourth goal of the campaign.
Willett brought the Tigers within two just moments after Pogue’s shorthanded strike, firing a slap shot from the top of the point that beat Barczewski to the blocker side for a power-play goal to make it a 4-2 contest.
Alger answered back for Canisius on the following shift, collecting a feed from junior Lee Lapid and wiring a shot over the glove of RIT netminder Logan Drackett, who had replaced Andriano in goal moments earlier
Earlier in the contest, Miotto opened the scoring at the 13:32 mark of the first period, beating Andriano with a wrist shot to the blocker side on a centering feed from fellow sophomore Keaton Mastrodonato.
Will Calverley brought RIT level less than two minutes later, answering for the visitors by placing a cross-ice feed from Kobe Walker under the crossbar to knot the score at 1-1, setting the stage for the Griffs second-period outburst.
Head Coach Trevor Large‘s Postgame Comments
“Come playoff time, the goal is to win hockey games. We knew it was going be a good hockey game and it really was tonight; two good teams go into battle. Like I said earlier, playoff time is time to win. So, we take the win, we get ready and prepared as we start to out-recover our opponent in order to be fully dialed in come puck drop tomorrow at seven.
“If you look at RIT’s games in the past, they do come out strong. That’s something that we knew. It didn’t back us down, but they had a little bit of the play early in the game.
With Barzo (Jacob Barczewski) in goal, we got full faith in him to come up with saves that we need. I know what he would say was tonight he didn’t have to make huge saves, although they out-shot us tonight, we were able to keep them to the outside and were able to limit second and third-chance opportunities for them. So, I’d say a lot of volume for Barzo tonight, but in terms of quality, I was happy with how we defended even though maybe the start of our game was not our best.
“We listen to the players. We’re already talking with them about why they felt we won the game. Our staff will do the same. Talk with each other about why did we win the game tonight and what are the things that we can carry over to get the same result and what are the things that we need to improve on for tomorrow. So, we’re always going to listen. We’re going to challenge everything that we’re doing every moment of every day so that we can make the proper changes. Obviously, the goal is the same outcome as tonight. We know it’s going to be a tough game. We’re excited for the opportunity to live in the moment tomorrow.”
Game Notes
• Canisius picked up its first postseason victory against RIT with Friday’s victory. The contest was just the third postseason matchup between the schools and the first since the 2015 AHA Tournament semifinals.
• Canisius improved to 5-1-0 at LECOM Harborcenter this season with Friday’s victory.
• The Griffs improved to 6-1-0 this season when scoring first. Canisius also moved to 9-2-0 in 2020-21 when scoring three or more goals in a game.
• The Griffs improved to a perfect 7-0-0 this season when leading a game after 40 minutes.
• Haar became the fifth different Canisius freshman to score a goal this season with his second-period tally.
• All four of Pogue’s goals this season have come against the Tigers. His goal was also the third shorthanded tally of the season for the Griffs.
• Miotto tallied multiple points in a game for the second time this season and the third time in his career with his two-point effort on Friday.
• Alger notched multiple points in a game for the first time this season and the 14th time in his career with a goal and an assist on Friday.
• Martan picked up his 10th point in 10 career games against RIT with an assist on Friday (2g, 8a).
• Canisius improved to 5-0-0 this season and 15-3-3 since the start of the 2019-20 campaign when junior Lee Lapid records a point.
• Barczewski made 30 or more saves in a game for the sixth time this season with his 35-save effort on Friday. He improved to 4-2-0 in such games with the victory.
Up Next
• The teams are scheduled to play game two of their best-of-three series Saturday at LECOM Harborcenter. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m.
(Canisius Hockey Photo)
