West Point, N.Y. - The Canisius College hockey team had its six-game unbeaten streak snapped at the hands of Army on Friday, falling by a score of 4-1. The loss drops the Griffs to 7-7-1 overall and 6-4-1 in Atlantic Hockey play, while Army improves to 4-8-2 and 3-5-1 against the league.
"The flow of the game wasn't in our favor tonight," said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. "We didn't do enough positive things to get it in our favor. Once in a while, it was there but we were unable to capitalize with those chances. We have a lot of work to do if we want to be in the upper echelon in this league. We need to fix the simple things with our game."
Junior Cory Conacher scored the lone goal for the Griffs on the evening, while sophomore Dan Morrison recorded 27 saves on the night.
After a scoreless first period, the Black Knights scored two in the second stanza. Owen Meyer opened the scoring 5:27 into the frame, connecting on the power play. Army was then able to take advantage of a 3-on-1 break when Bill Day tipped in a shot at the 10:47 mark.
The Griffs cut the deficit to one when Conacher scored his team-best 11th goal of the season at the 6:34 mark of the third period. Canisius was able to take advantage of a two-man advantage when senior Carl Hudson skated toward the goal and found Conacher open behind him in the slot. The junior then one-timed the shot in for the power-play score. Junior Vincent Scarsella also registered an assist on the goal.
The Black Knights were able to reclaim their two-goal advantage when Joey Ammon knocked in a loose puck in the crease for his first goal of the season at the 8:55 mark.
Canisius had another 5-on-3 opportunity to cut the Army lead but could not take advantage. Hudson had the best chance but his shot ringed off the post. The Black Knights sealed the victory when Cody Omilusik scored an empty-net goal with 48.2 seconds remaining.
Army held a slight advantage in shots, 31-30. Both teams converted one power-play opportunity. Canisius had six chances, while the Black Knights had seven.
The teams wrap up the two-game series tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m.
Game Notes: The Griffs school-record shutout streak ended at 213:12, the seventh longest streak in NCAA history ... Morrison's career-best scoreless streak ended at 153:12 ... Canisius lost its first road game in league play this season. The Griffs have never started 4-0-0 on the road since moving to Division I ... Conacher entered the game ranked sixth nationally with 0.83 goals per game ... Conacher also scored a goal in his third-straight game for the first time in his career ... Canisius was outshot for the first time in eight games.
