This guy does not score too often. Defensemen are not supposed to.
However, he picked an opportune time to finally get one and got to wear the big yellow wings for a while, an award Canisius gives out to its player of the game.
Junior defenseman Jimmy Mazza had waited awhile for another goal, and it turned out to be well worth it. You see, he scored the game-winner as Canisius ended its five-game homestand with a close 3-2 triumph over the No. 18 United States Air Force Academy in the Harborcenter on Saturday evening.
Mazza’s last goal came on March 10 of last season, and his latest goal was only the eighth of his career. Mazza scored when his shot snuck past Air Force goaltender Billy Christopoulos at 6:18 of the third period.
“Ryan Schmelzer had a huge faceoff win, wins it clean back. He goes to the net, him and Jeff Murray get the screen there, and it snakes through,” Mazza said. “It was a nice goal and a nice team win. It is definitely exciting, but it is more exciting when the team is celebrating on the bench with you. It is a good feeling.”
The win upped the Golden Griffins — who completed a five-game homestand — to 2-2-0 in Atlantic Hockey play and 2-2-1 overall. The Falcons fell to 1-1-0 in conference play and 5-2-1 overall.
“We knew at the beginning of the year this was going to be a quality test, having Robert Morris and Air Force in here,” said Canisius coach Trevor Large, whose club defeated a ranked team for the first time since October 26, 2013. “We knew they were going to be intense battles … two series we have had circled for a while.”
After the game, Air Force coach Frank Serratore was not in the happiest of moods.
“We overcame a lot of adversity, Billy kept us in there, Canisius could have put us away several times before that,” he said in reference to the game-winner. “It is unfortunate we dodged all of those bullets, to put ourselves in position to steal a point, only to lose on not a good goal, short-handed; it is too bad it had to go down that way.
“But I thought we didn’t deserve it. I thought Canisius was the better team tonight.”
With the scored tied at one, Canisius took a 2-1 lead when Dylan McLaughlin was finally rewarded. Earlier on a breakaway, he was interfered with by Matt Koch and was awarded a penalty shot. McLaughlin took his time and deked to the left, but shot the puck high over the net.
Just under two minutes later, McLaughlin had another breakaway, went five-hole, but was denied by Christopoulos. Then he finally got a good result with 2:24 left in the period when his shot from 10 feet above the faceoff circle whizzed through a maze of players past Christopoulos.
Early in the third period, the Falcons tied it when Matt Pulver scored an unassisted goal. He darted in from the left side and down low backhanded a shot off of the far post past Hofley to tie the game at 4:40.
After the game Serratore, whose team has a decent record, says that mark could be deceiving.
“Not really,” he said about being happy with what he has seen so far. “We have got to play better. We have a good record right now because our goaltending has been great. We have been an average team with great goaltending, and we have been the beneficiary of that. We have a long ways to go as a team.”
The Falcons got some bad news on Friday night when Tyler Ledford went down and reportedly will be lost for three to four weeks with a MCL sprain. Earlier, Air Force lost Evan Feno for the season.
NOTES: The Falcons, who occasionally fly military aircraft to road games, flew here commercial this time, but on Sunday, four groups of players and coaches will take four different flights back to Denver before bussing the rest of the way home to Colorado Springs. … Air Force, which ranked first nationally in penalty killing last season, entered Saturday’s game ranked ninth in the nation. … The Griffs play six of their next games on the road, starting next weekend at Sacred Heart. … Saturday’s game will be Canisius’ first road game this season. … The Falcons host Army next weekend.
Atlantic Hockey roundup
RIT 3, Army 1
The Tigers blew open a tie game with two goals late in the third period to get the win. With the score tied at one each, Jordan Peacock scored for a 2-1 lead before Erik Brown scored into an empty net with just 43 seconds left for an insurance goal.
Earlier, Ryan Kruper gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead in the first period before Army’s Tyler Phan tied it on a power play early in the second period.
Mercyhurst 2 Bentley 0
The very end of periods was kind to the Lakers in a shutout victory. Taylor Best scored the eventual game-winner with only 15 seconds left in the second period. Clinging to a 1-0 lead, Mercyhurst’s Jack Riley scored an empty-net goal with just one second remaining in the third period to ice the win.
Niagara 6, Sacred Heart 2
Tanner Lomsnes had two goals and an assist to lift the Purple Eagles, who earned a sweep of Sacred Heart. Nick Farmer, Derek Brown, Eric Cooley, and Darien Plouffe also scored for Niagara, which got 24 saves from goaltender Brian Wilson.
The Purple Eagles improved to 3-0-0 in the conference.
Ohio State 3, Robert Morris 1
Tanner Laczynski scored twice late in the third period to lift the Buckeyes over the Colonials. Matt Miller gave Ohio State a 1-0 lead early in the third period, but Alex Tonge tied it for Robert Morris just over six minutes later.
