Findlay made it a clean sweep of Canisius on Saturday afternoon, winning by the score of 4-1 in a game that featured 132 penalty minutes.
The Oilers, who were penalized for 70 of those minutes, improved to 10-12-2 on the season. The Ice Griffs dropped to 9-12-2 on the season.
Jason Maxwell scored two goals in a span of 1:16 in the first period to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead. Maxwell, who hadn’t scored since Dec. 1 against Iona, and who had just one goal since October 13, put the Oilers on the board at the 12:23 mark of the opening period.
With the Oilers on the power play, Maxwell buried a rebound for a 1-0 lead. Russ Kelley and Dave Erickson were credited with the assists. Maxwell then scored his second goal of the game and sixth of the season at the 13:39 mark to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead after a period. Brant Somerville and Brian Sherry earned the assists.
It remained that way until the 17:13 mark of the second period, when Canisius’ Jeff Street finally solved Findlay goaltender Kevin Fines. Street was on the receiving end of a great centering pass by Chris Duggan to cut the Oiler lead to 2-1. Mark Persick tallied the other assist.
With the Oilers clinging to their edge, Findlay’s Lee Arnold gave the home team a 3-1 lead at the 17:43 mark of the third period. Arnold beat Canisius goaltender Bryan Worosz off a rebound to regain the two-goal lead for the Oilers. Christian Olson and Steve Traver picked up the assists.
For the second straight game, Nick Udovicic scored an empty-net goal to seal the deal for the Oilers. His empty-netter came at the 18:37 mark and was assisted by Fines and Kelley.
A majority of the penalty minutes came at the 7:14 mark of the second period, when a skirmish broke out behind the Findlay goal. In total, all five players on the ice for both teams were given ten-minute misconducts, with Canisius’ James LeCuyer picking up the original minor peanlty for charging.
Fines, celebrating his birthday on Saturday, was outstanding in goal for the Oilers. He stopped 39 of 40 Canisius shots, including all 12 in the third period with the Oilers clinging to the one-goal lead to improve his record to 3-5-1 on the season. Worosz was also solid in defeat for the Ice Griffs, turning aside 34 Findlay shots on goal.
