Niagara Plays to 4-4 Tie Against Canisius
NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – Niagara hockey could not hold onto a two-goal lead against cross-town rival Canisius and had to settle for a 4-4 stalemate on Thursday evening at Dwyer Arena.
Matt Williams scored just 43 seconds into the third frame to give the Purple Eagles a two-goal cushion as the senior took a blistering shot from the point through a screen that made it just under the bar to give NU a 4-2 lead. The Purple Eagles saw their lead diminish as the game wore on as Doug Jessey and Ben Danford scored the contest’s final two goals to even the game at four apiece and send the contest into extra time.
“When it’s 4-2 you need to lock it down, but Canisius just didn’t quit tonight. They kept coming at us so I have to give them credit,” head coach Dave Burkholder said. “We had a lot of rebounds that we didn’t care of at the top of the crease and we’ve got to find a way to shut it down in the third period. This result feels like a loss. There’s no consolation in a tie from our end.”
Jackson Teichroeb finished the game with 40 saves, while his counterpart, Asmundson made 25 stops. Niagara (8-15-4; 8-8-4 AHA) went 0-for-2 while a man-up, and held Canisius scoreless in three of four power play attempts.
“This was playoff hockey. This series against Canisius comes at a great time for us with only seven games remaining,” Burkholder added. “I was really happy with our top line tonight. We need them to keep producing. This was the best game Conderman has played and TJ Sarcona scored a huge goal for us. There was a lot of good, but it was unfortunate that we couldn’t finish off what I thought was a good effort. We did enough to win and just couldn’t get it done.”
With Canisius on a five-on-four power play, Golden Griffin forward Kyle Gibbons opened the scoring 14:20 into the game via assists by Cody Freeman and Chris Conacher. With a little over a minute remaining on the Griff’s power play, Gibbons fought off NU defenseman Kevin Ryan and went backhand to forehand before beating Teichroeb high glove to make it 1-0.
Niagara answered 57 seconds later to bring the game back even off textbook play across the top of the slot by Mike Conderman and Brock Edwards. Conderman picked up the puck at the far boards and
connected with Edwards right in front of the blue paint. The freshman deked the goaltender for the easy tap in to pot his fourth of the year, knotting the game at one piece.
Hugo Turcotte gave Niagara its first lead of the game just 14 seconds into the second frame. The sophomore walked in on Asmundson, driving across the crease and sneaking the puck down low for his ninth tally of the season. Vince Muto was credited with the assist.
Matthew Grazen came up with the equalizer at 12:49 of the second, corralling a pass from Ralph Cuddemi at the top of the slot and beating Teichroeb over the right shoulder, but Niagara would regain its lead with a little over two minutes remaining in the period off the stick of TJ Sarcona. The goal began off a crunching hit by Michael Benedict on Cuddemi in the Griffin defensive zone that forced a turnover. Conderman picked up the loose puck and dished it to Sarcona who cashed in on a one-timer to make it 3-2 heading into the final period.
