"We had our chances to win this game," said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. "We played our best defensive period in the first and played very hard in the third. I'm not disappointed with the tie and I'm happy with our progress. I liked our power play today and it scored two big goals for us. We are gaining confidence every day."

Senior Vincent Scarsella, junior Scott Moser and sophomore Preston Shupe all scored for the Griffs.

Junior netminder Dan Morrison stopped 34 shots to anchor the Canisius defense.

The Griffs opened the scoring by taking advantage of two Holy Cross penalties in the first minute of play. Sophomore Torrey Lindsay fired a shot toward goal and Shupe knocked in the rebound for the early 1-0 advantage two minutes into the contest. Sophomore Steven Shafer also registered an assist on the 5-on-3 power-play goal.

Canisius extended its lead to two at the 5:28 mark of the second period when Moser tallied his third goal of the season. Freshman Ryan Bohrer dumped the puck into the Crusaders' zone and Moser gathered the loose puck from behind the net. The junior then skated to the face-off circle and ripped a shot past the Holy Cross goaltender for the 2-0 lead. Freshman Ben Danford also posted an assist on the score.

The Crusaders answered back with two goals of thier own in the second period. Everett Sheen started the rally at the 7:37 mark of the frame, scoring on the power play, while Erik Vos tipped a shot past Morrison with one second left in the stanza as the two teams headed into the second intermission knotted at two.

The Griffs reclaimed their lead 7:14 into the third period when Scarsella scored his fourth goal of the season. The senior scored off passes from Shafer and senior Cory Conacher to give Canisius a one-goal advantage, 3-2.

Holy Cross once again answered back, tying the game with 4:34 remaining in regulation. The Crusaders were able to take advantage of an injured Griff on the ice and with the extra-man advantage, Kyle Atkins scored from the blue line to square the game at three.

Both defenses clamped down after that, including a successful penalty kill by the Griffs, as the contest ended in a draw.

Holy Cross held a 37-21 advantage in shots on the afternoon, which included a 19-6 edge in the second period. The Griffs were 2-for-5 on the power play, while Holy Cross converted 1-of-6 extra-man chances. Derek Kump recorded 18 saves in goal for the Crusaders.

"We're an evenly-matched team with Holy Cross," Scarsella said. "Even when we were up 2-0, we knew we were in for a battle. We need to find a way to tighten things up and get two points out of these games. I thought we played well in the first but laid back after that. We need to come back and play a full 60 minutes tomorrow."

The teams conclude the two-game series tomorrow afternoon. Game time at the Buffalo State Sports Arena is scheduled for 3:35 p.m.

Game Notes: Nine of the last 10 games in the series have been decided by one or fewer goals ... Canisius has had its last five games decided by one or fewer goals, going 0-3-2 during that run ... Three of Scarsella's four goals this season have been on the power play ... His three extra-man scores, which leads the team, ties his career high, set during his freshman campaign (2007-08) ... The senior has also scored a goal in three-straight games for the second time in his career ... Shafer's two assists matches a career high ... Senior forward Matt Zuke played his third-straight game on the blue line due to injuries.