"I liked our overall effort today," said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. "There are just small cases that we had the chance to win a battle and possession of the puck and we didn't. We need to fix these small battles and the get the puck more and we will be in good position."

Senior Jason Weeks and junior Vincent Scarsella each scored for the Griffs.

Sophomore Dan Morrison recorded 28 saves in net to anchor the Canisius defense.

The Crusaders used three first-period goals to take early control of the contest. Everett Sheen netted his second goal of the season 6:29 into the contest to give Holy Cross the 1-0 advantage. Erik Vos fired a shot off the boards and the rebound went to the opposite side of the net and right to Sheen, who knocked the puck in.

Canisius answered right back, taking advantage of a 5-3 power play, to knot the game at one. Weeks knocked in a loose puck 12 seconds into the two-man advantage for his first goal of the season. Freshman Preston Shupe and senior Carl Hudson each registered an assist on the goal at the 8:52 mark.

The Crusaders would come right back, however, scoring two power play goals of their own. Vos scored his first goal of the season at the 13:43 mark with a two-man advantage and Jay Silvia added his first tally 46 seconds later.

After a scoreless second period, the Griffs cut their deficit to one when Scarsella hammered in his first goal of the season. Scarsella and junior Cory Conacher skated in on a two-on-one break. Conacher got the defenseman to commit and then passed the puck to his classmate, who knocked it in with 6:13 remaining in the contest. However, the Griffs were unable to find the equalizer as the Crusaders won the Atlantic Hockey opener for both teams.

Holy Cross outshot the Griffs, 31-26. The Crusaders were 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Griffs were 1-for-6 with the extra-man advantage. Freshman Thomas Tysowsky, a native of Amherst, N.Y., recorded 24 saves in net to earn his first collegiate victory.

The same two teams wrap up the series tomorrow afternoon at the Buffalo State Sports Arena. Game time is slated for 4:05 p.m.

Game Notes: The Griffs are now 1-5-1 in Atlantic Hockey openers, while Holy Cross improves to 6-0-1 ... Canisius has been outscored 9-1 in the first period this season ... The nine goals allowed by the Griffs in the first are two more than the second and third periods combined ... Conacher and Scarsella each lead Canisius with four points this season ... In all four instances, Conacher and Scarsella have posted the primary assist on the others goal.