Freshman goalie Bryan Worosz posted 27 saves to pace Canisius to a 4-1 victory over the visiting Army Black Knights Friday night at the Buffalo State Sports Arena. The Griffs improve to 9-6-2 in the league and 10-12-2 overall, while Army falls to 5-14-5 overall, 5-9-5 in the MAAC.
Canisius opened the scoring with three goals in the first period to take a commanding 3-0 lead over the Black Knights. David Deeves intercepted a pass from Army goalie Scott Hamilton and deposited the puck in the empty net at the 6:43 mark to give the Griffs a 1-0 advantage. The power-play goal was Deeves’ fourth of the season.
Canisius’ lead grew to 2-0 at the 11:08 mark as Jeff Street found Steve Birch in the slot and Street beat Hamilton on the right side. Brad Kenny also assisted on the goal. Chris Duggan closed the first-period scoring with his eighth of the season with 3:08 remaining as Corey Lucas fed a pass into the slot for Duggan’s 100th career point. Deeves also picked up an assist on the goal.
Army cut the deficit to 3-1 with a power-play goal by Nathan Mayfield at 16:16 of the second period. Joe Dudek found Mayfield all alone on the right post for Mayfield’s seventh of the year. Joe Carpenter also assisted on the goal.
Canisius sewed up the victory with an insurance goal in the third stanza at the 12:02 mark. Marc Bouffard beat Hamilton with a power-play goal on assists from Lucas and Kenny, their second assists of the evening. Worosz picked up his fourth win of the season for Canisius, while Army’s Hamilton posted 25 saves in falling to 4-8-0 on the year.
Canisius head coach Brian Cavanaugh was honored for his 300th career coaching victory with a first-period intermission ceremony, as MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor and Canisius director of athletics Tim Dillon presented Cavanaugh with awards marking the occasion.
Canisius hosts Army in game two of the series at the Buffalo State Sports Arena at 7:00 p.m. Saturday.
