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Canisius University Athletics

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McLeod_Matt action vs Army West Point 2-10-18
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1
AIC AIC 14-19-4
8
Winner Canisius CAN 18-15-2
AIC AIC
14-19-4
1
Final
8
Canisius CAN
18-15-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
AIC AIC 0 1 0 1
Canisius CAN 3 2 3 8

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Rolls to Game One Victory Over AIC, 8-1

Three players tallied two goals each to lead No. 2 seed Canisius to an 8-1 victory over No. 8 seed American International in game one of their Atlantic Hockey Conference Tournament quarterfinal-round series Friday at KeyBank Rink at HARBORCENTER.
 
Juniors Dylan McLaughlin and Matt McLeod and sophomore Matt Hoover all found the back of the net twice for the Golden Griffins (18-15-2), who claimed a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series with Friday's victory. Juniors Jimmy Mazza and Felix Chamberland also scored for Canisius while sophomore Nick Hutchison dished out a team-high three assists.
 
Blake Christensen accounted for the lone goal for the Yellow Jackets (14-19-4).
 
McLeod put Canisius in front a little more than eight minutes into the contest when he deposited a goalmouth feed from sophomore Nick Hutchison past AIC goaltender Stefano Durante during 4-on-4 action.
 
Chamberland doubled the Griffs margin to 2-0 just 4:03 after McLeod's tally, firing a snap shot past Durante and under the crossbar from the middle of the slot for his sixth of the season.
 
McLaughlin capped the first-period barrage at the 16:51 mark of the opening frame, finishing off a 2-on-1 break with senior Ryan Schmelzer tucking the puck into the upper right-hand corner of the net.  
 
McLaughlin stretched the Canisius cushion to 4-0 just 27 seconds into the second period as he beat Durante with a wrist shot inside the left post during a 2-on-1 break.
 
Christiansen got the Yellow Jackets on the board a little more than five minutes later with his team-leading 13th goal of the season, putting home the rebound after his initial shot attempt was blocked.
 
Hoover restored the Griffs' four-goal margin with a power-play tally at the 13:12 mark of the middle frame, one-timing a feed from freshman Grant Meyer past Durante from the bottom of the right faceoff circle.
 
Canisius continued its offensive barrage in the third as Mazza netted a power-play goal just 24 seconds into the final frame before McLeod and Hoover struck 2:24 seconds apart midway through the period to close out the scoring.
 
Sophomore Daniel Urbani recorded 34 saves in goal for Canisius. Durante made 10 saves between the pipes for AIC before being replaced by Zackarias Skog in the third, who recorded seven stops.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large Postgame Comments
"Obviously, it was a great game for us. I liked how the offense was spread out. Guys were clicking for us tonight and we made a lot of plays. It's a great win in game one for us, but we know that tomorrow is going to be a different game, a harder game and we'll be prepared for that.
 
"It's hard to really know what a week off is going to do for your team. I know for us, it got us healthy. Getting some guys back really gave us an emotional boost. Having (Ryan) Schmelzer, (Jeff) Murray and (Jesse) Pereira back in the lineup really helped us tonight.
 
"Honestly, as a coach you don't know how the guys are going to start coming out of a bye week, but our start was great. We got the flow of the game going the way we wanted. We were able to get some early goals and that really kept the pressure on them. They had some moments where they started to push. I liked how we handle it and then were able to continue to score. We had spread-out scoring and multiple guys with two goals. For us, we love that."  
 
Game Notes
• Canisius improved its record against AIC to 38-15-7 during the Division I era of the series with Friday's victory.
• The Griffs moved its home record in the Atlantic Hockey Conference Tournament contests to 11-3 with Friday's victory.
• The eight goals scored by Canisius were the most in an Atlantic Hockey Tournament contest for the Griffs in program history, eclipsing the previous mark of seven set on three prior occasions (most recently vs. Mercyhurst on March 23, 2013).
• Canisius improved to 16-1-1 this season when scoring the first goal of the contest.
• The Griffs moved to 12-1-1 in 2017-18 when recording four or more goals in a contest.
• Canisius improved to 12-0-0 this season when leading after 40 minutes.
• The Griffs recorded their seventh shorthanded goal of the season with junior Matt McLeod's third-period tally, putting them in a tie with four teams nationally for second in that category.
• Junior Dylan McLaughlin recorded multiple points in a game for the 15th time this season as Canisius improved to 11-3-1 when that occurs.  
• McLaughlin also moved into sole possession of third place on the program's Division I era chart for points (47) in a season. He also moved into a tie with Vincent Scarsella (2009-10) for second place on the program's single-season assists list (30).
• Junior Matt McLeod scored multiple goals in a game for the first time in his career with his two-goal effort on Friday.
• Sophomore Matt Hoover tallied multiple goals in a game for the fourth time this season. All four occurrences have come since Feb. 1.
• Sophomore Nick Hutchison established a new career high with three assists on Friday. The three points also matched his career high, set against Niagara on Feb. 17, 2017.
• Junior Felix Chamberland tallied multiple points in a game for the second time this season with his two-point effort on Friday.
• Junior Alex Jaeckle posted multiple points in a game for the second time in his career and first since recording a goal and an assist at AIC on Jan. 28, 2017.
• Freshman Grant Meyer notched multiple points in a game for the fifth time this season as he finished with two assists in the contest.
 
Up Next
The two teams continue their best-of-three series Saturday with an 8:05 p.m. contest at KeyBank Rink at HARBORCENTER.  
 
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