Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Canisius University Athletics

#Griffs The Official Home of the Canisius University Golden Griffins | #Griffs
Hockey Wraps Up Regular Season With RIT

Ice Hockey Canisius College Athletics

Hockey Wraps Up Regular Season With RIT

Canisius (11-18-5, 10-13-2 AHA) vs. RIT (13-14-5, 11-10-4 AHA)
Dates: March 1-2, 2013
Time: 7:05 p.m.
Locations: Rochester, N.Y./Buffalo, N.Y.
Rinks: Ritter Arena/Buffalo State Sports Arena
TV: Time Warner SportsChannel (Fri.)

The Canisius College hockey team concludes the 2012-13 regular season with a home-and-home series with RIT. The teams are set to meet in Rochester on Friday at 7:05 p.m. before wrapping up the year in Buffalo on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

SCOUTING THE GRIFFS
• Canisius is currently in ninth place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with a 10-13-2 league record (11-18-2 overall).
• The Griffs lost a pair of games last weekend to Robert Morris, falling 4-2 at home on Friday and 6-3 in Pittsburgh on Saturday.
• Junior Kyle Gibbons leads the Griffs with 25 points and 15 goals with junior defender Ben Danford posting a team-best 13 assists.
• Junior Tony Capobianco has anchored the nation's 13th-ranked defense with a 2.38 goals against average and .926 save percentage.

SENIOR CELEBRATION
• Prior to Saturday's regular-season finale, the Griffs will honor their four seniors for their dedication to the program the last four seasons.
Chris Barrea, Torrey Lindsay, Ben Parker and Preston Shupe will all be appearing in their final home regular-season game on Saturday.
• The five players have appeared in 445 career games with 145 points, 50 goals and 95 assists.
• Canisius will also honor Jordan Mustard, who has spent the last two years as an undergraduate student coach after playing for the Griffs during the 2010-11 season.

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS
• With just one weekend of the regular-season remaining, the focus will soon turn toward the Atlantic Hockey Tournament.
• Canisius can finish anywhere from sixth to 11th in the final standings.
• The Griffs, who are currently in ninth place, control their path to a home playoff series. If Canisius sweeps RIT, the Griffs can finish no worse than eighth. The Griffs need help to finish higher than eighth.
• One win this weekend clinches no worse than ninth in the standings, while a loss means the highest Canisius can finish is eighth.

POWER OUTAGE
• The team's penalty kill has been the strongest aspect of the Griffs' game this season.
• Canisius owns the nation's second-ranked penalty kill unit, successfully killing 90.3 percent of power plays this year (112-of-124).

FEBRUARY BLUES
• Canisius is glad that the month of February is finally over.
• During the last three years, the Griffs have struggled in February with a .292 winning percentage, compared to a .509 percentage in the other months during league play.
• Canisius went 2-6-0 this year with its current five-game losing streak the longest since the 2005-06 season.

CANISIUS - RIT SERIES HISTORY
• In a series that dates back to the Griffs' inaugural season of 1980-81, RIT holds an advantage of 46-12-1 in 59 all-time meetings between the two schools.
• Canisius has played only Mercyhurst more than the Tigers during the program's history.
• Since RIT moved to Division I before the 2005-06 season, the Tigers own a 16-6-0 edge in the series.
• The schools have split four meetings in the last two seasons. Canisius had lost its previous eight games against the Tigers in the three seasons prior.
• Junior Patrick Sullivan led the Griffs to a 6-3 win in the team's only meeting this season, posting two goals and one assist in Rochester. The win ended a seven-game losing streak at Ritter Arena.

ABOUT THE TIGERS
• RIT enters the final weekend of play with a 13-14-5 overall record and an 11-10-4 Atlantic Hockey mark. The Tigers are in tied for sixth in the league standings and can finish anywhere from third to ninth in the final rankings.
• The Tigers split a pair of games last weekend in Rochester against Air Force, falling 5-3 in the opener and winning the finale, 2-1.
• Senior defender Chris Saracino leads the Tigers with 28 points on eight goals and 20 assists. Senior Jeff Smith has netted a team-leading 13 goals.
• Josh Watson and Jordan Ruby have split time in goal. Watson owns a 7-6-4 record with a 3.05 goals against average and .904 save percentage, while Ruby has posted a 6-7-1 mark with a goals against average of 3.16 and a save percentage of .908.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Chris Barrea

#44 Chris Barrea

D
6' 2"
Senior
Tony Capobianco

#31 Tony Capobianco

G
6' 2"
Junior
Ben Danford

#16 Ben Danford

D
6' 0"
Junior
Kyle Gibbons

#15 Kyle Gibbons

F
6' 1"
Junior
Torrey Lindsay

#10 Torrey Lindsay

F
5' 9"
Senior
Ben Parker

#4 Ben Parker

D
6' 0"
Senior
Preston Shupe

#14 Preston Shupe

F
6' 1"
Senior
Patrick Sullivan

#26 Patrick Sullivan

F
6' 1"
Junior

Players Mentioned

Chris Barrea

#44 Chris Barrea

6' 2"
Senior
D
Tony Capobianco

#31 Tony Capobianco

6' 2"
Junior
G
Ben Danford

#16 Ben Danford

6' 0"
Junior
D
Kyle Gibbons

#15 Kyle Gibbons

6' 1"
Junior
F
Torrey Lindsay

#10 Torrey Lindsay

5' 9"
Senior
F
Ben Parker

#4 Ben Parker

6' 0"
Senior
D
Preston Shupe

#14 Preston Shupe

6' 1"
Senior
F
Patrick Sullivan

#26 Patrick Sullivan

6' 1"
Junior
F