Senior Sean Weaver recorded 31 saves as Canisius rallied from a 1-0 deficit to defeat visiting Iona 3-1 Saturday evening at the Buffalo State Sports Arena, completing a weekend sweep of the Gaels.
“This was a great four points for us this weekend,” said Canisius head coach Brian Cavanaugh. “Iona is a quality opponent every time we take the ice against them and we needed to play a perfect game to pick up the win. We were 0-4-2 in our last six games against Iona, so these two wins help get that monkey off our back.”
Iona (6-7-1, 5-4-1 MAAC) jumped to the 1-0 lead for the second consecutive night as senior defenseman Nathan Lutz scored a power-play goal with 4:20 left in the opening period, powering a slapshot from the right faceoff circle that clipped Weaver’s glove before finding the back of the net.
But Canisius (8-6-2, 7-3-2 MAAC) responded just as it had the night before, taking the lead in the second session with a pair of power-play goals.
Sophomore Rob Martin knotted the game at 1-1 with his team-high 10th goal of the season, grabbing his own rebound from in front of the net and sliding the puck past Iona goalie Scott Galenza just 3:20 into the period.
The Blue and Gold took the lead on another power-play goal, this time by freshman Mark Persick at the 15:04 mark. Senior Brad Kenny slipped a pass from inside the blue line and Persick blasted a slapshot from the left point that tagged the upper left corner of the net for the 2-1 Canisius lead.
Kenny added an empty-net goal for the second straight night with 10 seconds remaining in the final period to seal the victory for the Griffs.
Weaver starred in net for Canisius, making several spectacular saves for his sixth win of the season, while Galenza stopped 25 shots in the Iona loss.
“Sean played an outstanding pair of games for us this weekend,” said Cavanaugh. “The whole team is coming into mid-season mode with our systems working and the special teams working hard every second they are out there.”
