West Point, N.Y. - The Canisius College hockey team earned a 4-2 victory over host Army on Friday night. With the win, the Griffs improve to 5-11-3 on the season and 5-5-2 in Atlantic Hockey play, while the Black Knights drop to 2-10-6 and 1-8-4 against league foes.
Junior Torrey Lindsay, sophomore Patrick Sullivan and freshmen Doug Beck and Carl Larsson each scored in the win for the Griffs.
"We got off to a good start and played really good team hockey for 60 minutes tonight," said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. "There was a lot of physical play and speed in tonight's game. We won a lot of the battles and competed hard the entire contest. The line of Doug Beck, Carl Larsson and Tyler Wiseman had their best night of the season."
Senior Dan Morrison recorded 31 saves on the night to earn the victory in net.
The Griffs opened the scoring in the contest when Lindsay netted his fourth goal of the season 8:12 into the game. The junior knocked the puck loose in Canisius' defensive zone and then skated into the Army zone, connecting on a give-and-go with freshman Cody Freeman for the early advantage.
The Black Knights answered back and took their first lead of the night with a pair of goals 55 seconds apart. Mike Henderson took advantage of a Canisius turnover in its zone to knot the game at one with 4:28 remaining in the first. Andy Starczewski then one-timed a shot into the back of the net from the high slot while on the power play for the 2-1 Army advantage.
The Griffs quickly responded, tying the game just 42 seconds after the Black Knights claimed their only lead of the night. Junior Ben Parker fired a shot on goal and Sullivan cleaned up the rebound to knot the game at two with 2:51 left in the first. Senior captain Scott Moser also registered an assist on the game-tying tally.
Canisius reclaimed its lead halfway through the second frame when Beck scored his second goal of his rookie campaign. Freshman Tyler Wiseman sent a shot toward goal from the boards and Beck tipped it past the Army goaltender with 10:03 remaining in the period. Sophomore Ben Danford also registered an assist on the go-ahead score.
The Griffs sealed their victory with 8:45 remaining in the contest when Larsson tallied his first collegiate goal. Danford fired a shot toward net from the blue line and the puck deflected off of Larsson's shoulder and into the back of the net. Wiseman added his second assist of the night on the goal.
The Canisius defense then took it from there to earn their fifth Atlantic Hockey victory of the season. The Griffs held the Black Knights off the scoreboard for the final 43:33 of the game and Morrison stopped the last 26 shots on goal he faced.
Army finished the contest with a 33-27 advantage in shots on night. The Black Knights scored in their only power play, while the Griffs were 0-for-1 with the extra-man advantage.
The teams wrap up the two-game series tomorrow night. Game time at Tate Rink is set for 7:05 p.m.
Game Notes: Canisius scored two first-period goals for the first time this season ... The Griffs also matched a season high with four tallies ... Wiseman recorded the first multi-point game of his career ... Canisius ended its five-game winless streak at Tate Rink ... Morrison became the second Griff to record his 2,600th career save, raising his total to 2,601 ... He is now just 170 saves shy of the school record ... Morrison has allowed only two third-period goals in 10 games this season.
