Army picked up a 3-3 tie against visiting Canisius Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 2,670 fans on senior night at Tate Rink.
Canisius’ James LeCuyler scored the game-tying goal 2:38 into the final period to pull the Ice Griffs even, and Black Knights’ senior goaltender Scott Hamilton made two acrobatic saves in the final seconds of regulation to force the overtime.
Army (11-17-6/9-11-6 MAAC) played its 11th overtime game of the season, finishing 1-4-6 in those contests. Canisius (14-16-4/13-9-4 MAAC) finished in fifth place in the league standings.
Hamilton made 34 saves in all on the evening and recorded his 2,000th career save early in the second period. He now has 2,024 stops in his career, good for fourth place on Army’s all-time charts.
Derek Hines and Nathan Mayfield scored in the first period for Army, Joe Dudek tallied on a breakaway in the second. Steve Birch and Todd Houston had the Ice Griffs’ other two goals. Canisius goalie Sean Weaver made 28 saves in net.
The Black Knights will have a week to prepare for top-seeded Mercyhurst in a rematch of Friday’s game at Tate Rink. Army was 1-2 versus the MAAC’s regular-season champion, handing the Lakers one of their two league losses. Canisius will visit No. 4 seed Sacred Heart in the first round.
The first round of the MAAC tournament will take place Saturday, March 9, at a time to be determined by the host school.
