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Canisius University Athletics

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Meyer_Grant action vs UND 1_4_19
www.tomwolf.smugmug.com
6
Winner Mercyhurst MER-M 10-11-2, 8-6-1 AHA
2
Canisius CAN 8-10-2, 5-8-1 AHA
Winner
Mercyhurst MER-M
10-11-2, 8-6-1 AHA
6
Final
2
Canisius CAN
8-10-2, 5-8-1 AHA
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Mercyhurst MER-M 1 3 2 6
Canisius CAN 0 0 2 2

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Mercyhurst Defeats Hockey in Series Opener, 6-2

Tommas Bucci, Dalton Hunter and Matthew Whittaker all notched three points apiece to pace Mercyhurst to a 6-2 victory over Canisius in Atlantic Hockey Association action Friday at KeyBank Rink at Harborcenter.
 
Bucci dished out three assists, Hunter recorded two goals and an assist and Whittaker pitched in a goal and two helpers to pace the Lakers (10-11-2, 8-6-1 AHA) to their third win in their last four league contests. Derek Barach, Michael Bevilacqua and Steven Ipri also scored for Mercyhurst.

Sophomore Grant Meyer and senior Dylan McLaughlin recorded the two goals for the Golden Griffins (8-10-2, 5-8-1 AHA).
 
Barach staked Mercyhurst to a 1-0 lead with a power-play tally 5:27 into the contest, burying a snap shot past the blocker of Canisius keeper Blake Weyrick from the middle of the slot for his 10th of the campaign.
 
The score remained the same until late in the second period, when the Lakers took control of the contest with three goals in a 5:37 span to build a 4-0 cushion.
 
Whittaker began the game-changing stretch with a power-play goal at the 12:51 mark of the middle frame, deflecting a point shot from Joseph Duszak past Weyrick to give Mercyhurst a 2-0 cushion.
 
Bevilacqua stretched the Lakers lead to 3-0 less than four minutes later, getting behind the Griffs' defense before sneaking the puck past the glove of Weyrick with a backhanded effort for his second of the season.
 
Hunter closed out the second-period surge for the Lakers with 1:32 to play in the middle frame, placing a snap shot just inside the left post during a 2-on-2 rush.
 
The Lakers extended their lead to 5-0 early in the third period on Hunter's second of the contest before Meyer got Canisius on the board at the 11:07 mark of the final frame to trim the deficit to 5-1.
 
Ipri restored Mercyhurst's five-goal cushion less than a minute after Meyer's marker with his sixth of the season. McLaughlin closed out the scoring with less than two minutes to play, notching his team-leading 12th goal of the season during a delayed penalty situation to determine the final margin.
 
Garrett Metcalf made 33 saves in goal for Mercyhurst while Weyrick made 18 stops in two periods of work for Canisius. Freshman Matt Ladd replaced Weyrick at the at the start of the third and finished with nine saves.  
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"We were beat by a better team tonight. Their effort was higher than ours. We were not together in how we wanted to play. We started the game that way and we tried to battle back. The second half of the first period was solid. There were some unfortunate bounces that got them some goals tonight that were untimely for us and really hurt our momentum. Obviously going into the third period down 4-0 is a huge challenge.
 
"We have to put this game behind us and get ready for tomorrow. We're a team that's been able to do that, no matter the outcome on Friday. Results are important, but we're trying to pull some positives from every game. This one it's a little more difficult to do that, but our power play in the first period got us going and moving the puck around well. (Garrett) Metcalf was great for them tonight, he was the best player on the ice. They get some great goaltending and some momentum with a couple back-to-back goals and now we're really fighting from behind and trying to scratch and claw for anything."
 
Game Notes
• Friday's game served as the 89th all-time meeting between Canisius and Mercyhurst. The Lakers extended their lead in the Division I era of the series to 31-28-9 with the victory.
• The Griffs out-shot the Lakers by a 35-33 margin in the contest, highlighted by a 14-11 edge in the third.
• Mercyhurst was 2-for-5 on the power play while Canisius was 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
• Canisius surrendered four or more goals for the 10th time this season as it fell to 1-9-0 in 2018-19 when doing so.
• McLaughlin's third-period goal moved him into sole possession of fourth place on the program's Division I era career points (131) and goals (51) charts.
• Meyer extended his point-scoring streak to five games and his goal-scoring streak to three games with his third-period tally.
• Freshman David Baskerville picked up his second assist of the season with the primary helper on Meyer's third-period goal.
• Senior Jimmy Mazza moved to a tie for the team lead with his 12th assist of the season on Meyer's third-period goal.
 
Up Next
• The teams conclude their home-and-home series Saturday with a 7 p.m. contest at the Mercyhurst Ice Center in in Erie, Pa.
 
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