"In the moments that Army was pressing, Dan Morrison was able to see the puck and control the rebounds," said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. "We had some timely scoring and getting one early was big for us. It's nice to continue our good start to the season, especially by winning our first home contest."

Freshman Kyle Gibbons continued his strong start to his rookie season, leading the Griffs with three points and two goals in the victory. Senior Cory Conacher chipped in a goal and an assist, while sophomore Preston Shupe rounded out the scoring for Canisius with a goal.

Junior Dan Morrison anchored the Canisius defense with 32 saves on the night, recording his first shutout of the season and the fifth of his career.

Canisius didn't waste much time jumping out to an early lead over the Black Knights (0-4-0, 0-3-0 Atlantic Hockey). Senior Vincent Scarsella led a rush in the early minutes and fed Gibbons to the right. The rookie then beat the Army goaltender for the early 1-0 advantage 3:33 into the contest. Freshman Ben Danford also registered an assist on the goal.

The Griffs quickly extended their lead to two just 6:11 into the contest. Sophomore Wes Love fired a shot toward goal that was blocked. Conacher found the puck turned toward the net and had his shot hit off both posts before Gibbons knocked in the rebound.

A short-handed tally by Shupe gave the Griffs a 3-0 lead midway through the second period. Sophomore Torrey Lindsay found his classmate in the neutral zone and Shupe skate down the ice, made a couple moves and then beat the Army goaltender 1-on-1. Sophomore Ben Parker also registered an assist on the short-handed score at the 13:45 mark of the second.

Conacher sealed the Canisius victory with his team-leading sixth goal of the season 4:14 into the third frame. The senior ripped a shot into the back of the net off a pass from Scarsella for the 4-0 final score. Gibbons also registered an assist on the goal to match his career high with his third point.

The Black Knights outshot the Griffs on the evening, 32-21, but couldn't get one past Morrison. Neither team was able to connect on the power play with Canisius going 0-for-3 on the night, while killing all six Army power plays. Jay Clark stopped 17 shots on goal for Army in the defeat.

The two teams wrap up the two-game series tomorrow night with game time at the Buffalo State Sports Arena slated for 7:05 p.m.

Game Notes: Canisius, who currently sits in first place in the Atlantic Hockey standings, has seven points through four league games for the first time in the program's history ... The previous high through four games was six during the 2004-05 season (3-1-0) ... Canisius also won four games during the month of October for the first time in the school's history ... The only other time that Canisius had won three games in the season's opening month was during the 1999-00 campaign ... Conacher is now tied for third in the program's Division I history in career points (115) and career assists (70) ... He matched the points mark of Chris Duggan (1998-02) and the assists mark of David Deeves (1998-02) ... In his first six games of the season, Morrison has posted a 1.96 goals against average and .950 save percentage ... The short-handed goal for Shupe was the second of his career ... The series between the two schools is now even at 17-17-4