Taking full advantage of a five-goal second period, the Canisius College men’s ice hockey team defeated visiting Alabama-Huntsville by a 9-3 margin Saturday night at the Buffalo State
Sports Arena. The Golden Griffins even their record at 1-1-0, while the Chargers fall to 3-1-0.
A balanced attack keyed the Canisius victory as six different skaters scored and eight others added assists. Chris Duggan led the way for the Griffs with a pair of first-period goals and an
assist. Todd Houston and Rob Martin also lit the lamp twice for Canisius.
The Griffs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of play on goals by Tom Wnuk and Duggan before Alabama-Huntsville scored on a goal by Steve Milosevski at the 11:23 mark.
Houston restored the two-goal cushion 38 seconds later with his first of the season. The Chargers’ Mike Funk made the score 3-2 at the 13:11 mark of the first and Duggan got the eventual game-winner with 3:02 remaining in the opening stanza.
The Griffs opened up the game with a five-goal explosion in the second period, scoring three times within the first eight minutes to chase Charger goalie Adam MacLean to the bench. With Mike Slaton between the pipes for the Chargers, the Griffs continued their assault as Martin gave Canisius an 8-2 lead at the 15:58 mark and Houston added a power-play goal with 1:43 left in the second stanza.
Alabama-Huntsville would score the only goal in the final period, a tally by Keith Rowe at 7:53.
“I think that we have an interesting mix of speed and firepower this season,” said Canisius head coach Brian Cavanaugh. “We have a number of veterans such as Duggan, [David] Deeves and Houston and newcomers like [Justin] Carre, [Ryan] Corcoran and [Fred] Coccimiglio who can really pour on the offense.”
Senior Sean Weaver turned away 28 shots in the Griffs’ win and Bryan Worosz stopped seven shots in just under nine minutes of relief. MacLean made 15 saves in the loss for the Chargers, with Slaton stopping 11 in over 32 minutes of play.
“We learned a great deal from our mistakes last night,” said Cavanaugh. “The team wanted to come out and play with determination tonight and were really focused throughout the whole 60 minutes.”
Canisius begins their 2001-02 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference schedule with a road trip next weekend. The Griffs face Sacred Heart University Friday, Oct. 26 at 7:00 p.m. and Fairfield University Saturday, Oct. 27 at 3:00 p.m.
