The Canisius College hockey team suffered its second loss of the season and the first in Atlantic Hockey play with a 2-1 defeat to visiting Army on Saturday night. The Griffs are now 4-2-1 on the season and 3-1-1 in league play.
"Army outworked us early in the game and that turned out to be the difference tonight," said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. "Their goaltender played great and they played really, really hard. It took us too long to match their intensity."
Freshman Ryan Bohrer scored the lone goal for the Griffs, the first of his collegiate career. Junior Dan Morrison recorded 24 saves on the night in the defeat.
"We didn't come out ready to play," said team captain Phil Rauch. "We thought we were just going to win and they came out stronger than us. We got physically and mentally outworked tonight."
A pair of early turnovers led to two goals for the Black Knights (1-4-0, 1-3-0 Atlantic Hockey). Army struck first seven minutes into the contest following a neutral zone miscue by the Griffs. Cody Omilusik took advantage for his second goal of the season. Just under six minutes later, Canisius turned the puck over right in front of its own goal and Andy Starczewski scored an unassisted tally for the 2-0 lead.
After a scoreless second stanza, Canisius finally got on the scoreboard at the 8:13 mark of the third. Sophomore Ben Parker fired a shot toward goal and freshman Taylor Law deflected the puck to Bohrer, who found the back of the net for his first career score.
The Griffs had a number of opportunities to tie the game but couldn't get the puck past Army's Jay Clark. Freshman Kyle Gibbons hit the pipe and with three minutes remaining in regulation, senior Vincent Scarsella just missed with an open look.
Canisius held a 33-26 advantage in shots on the night, but went 0-for-3 on the power play. Clark recorded 32 saves to earn his first victory of the 2010-11 season.
The Griffs return to action on Tuesday, hosting Battle of the Bridge rival Niagara. Game time at the Buffalo State Sports Arena is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Game Notes: Canisius lost for the first time when allowing two or fewer goals since March 8, 2008 ... The Griffs outshot a team for the first time this season ... Canisius was unbeaten after four conference games for the first time in the program's Division I history ... Law recorded his first collegiate point with his assist on Bohrer's goal ... Canisius is now 0-2-1 on Saturdays this season and 4-0-0 on every other day.
