BUFFALO – Alex Gilmour tallied both goals and No. 16 St. Lawrence held off a late charge by Canisius to earn a 2-1 victory in collegiate hockey action Saturday at KeyBank Rink in HARBORCENTER.
Gilmour staked the Saints (11-6-5) to a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes with a goal in each of the first two periods before freshman Nick Hutchison got the Griffs (7-10-4) on the board with less than four minutes remaining in the third to cut the Saints advantage in half.
Canisius continued to make a push for the equalizer in the final minutes and was rewarded with a power play opportunity in the final two minutes. The Griffs pulled the goalie to create a 6-on-4 advantage, but goaltender Arthur Brey and the Saints defense kept Canisius from netting the game-tying goal to preserve the victory.
St. Lawrence opened the scoring at the 12:15 mark of the first when Gilmour deflected a shot by Ben Masella past Canisius keeper Charles Williams to put the Saints in front.
Gilmour struck again a little more than eight minutes into the second period, beating Williams with a wrist shot inside the right post during a St. Lawrence power play to make it a 2-0 game.
Hutchison got Canisius on the board with his team-leading seventh goal of the season at the 16:35 mark of the third, finishing off a goalmouth scramble to make it a 2-1 contest and set up the game's dramatic final moments.
Brey turned aside 19 shots for St. Lawrence. Williams finished the game with 33 saves for Canisius.
Head Coach Dave Smith's Postgame Comments
“St. Lawrence is a really good team. They carried the play a lot tonight. As the game went on, I thought our intensity picked up. Our willingness to compete and play an aggressive, responsible game also picked up and because of that, we were able to hang around.
“We would like to start the game playing our best hockey, but it was a slow build up for us tonight. At the end, I thought it was toe-to-toe, but they had a two and then a one-goal lead and you feel like you ran out of time a little bit. But give credit to St. Lawrence. They played hard and they played well.”
Game Notes
- St. Lawrence held a 35-20 shot advantage for the contest, highlighted by a 13-3 edge in the first period. The Griffs out-shot the Saints, 9-8, in the third.
- St. Lawrence was 1-for-4 on the power play while Canisius was 0-for-5 with the man advantage. The Saints' power-play goal came on their first man advantage opportunity of the contest.
- Canisius played its sixth matchup against a ranked opponent this season with Saturday's contest. Six of the Griffs' eight non-league games have been against ranked opponents.
- Freshman Nick Hutchison's goal moved him back into a tie with junior Ryan Schmelzer for the team lead in points with 11.
- Freshman Jesse Pereira picked up his second point in as many contests with the secondary assist on Hutchison's tally.
- Senior Charles Williams recorded 30 or more saves in a game for the ninth time this season.
Up Next
- Canisius returns its focus to Atlantic Hockey Conference competition next weekend when it heads to Colorado for a weekend series at Air Force.
- The Griffs and Falcons open their two-game set Jan. 13 at 9:05 p.m. (EST) before wrapping up the series the following evening with a 7:05 p.m. (EST) faceoff.
