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Canisius University Athletics

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Martan_mitchell goal vs RMU 1-19-19
Dean Bogart
4
Robert Morris RMU 9-14-1, 8-9-1 AHA
6
Winner Canisius CAN 9-12-2, 6-10-1 AHA
Robert Morris RMU
9-14-1, 8-9-1 AHA
4
Final
6
Canisius CAN
9-12-2, 6-10-1 AHA
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Robert Morris RMU 0 1 3 4
Canisius CAN 3 1 2 6

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Fast Start Sparks Hockey to 6-4 Win over Robert Morris

Canisius scored three first-period goals to take an early lead and held off a late Robert Morris rally to post a 6-4 victory in Atlantic Hockey Association action Saturday at KeyBank Rink at Harborcenter.
 
Seniors Dylan McLaughlin and Matt McLeod, juniors Matt Hoover and Nick Hutchison and freshmen Mitchell Martan and Kevin Obssuth all found the back of the net for the Golden Griffins (9-12-2, 6-10-1 AHA), who snapped a three-game losing skid with the two-goal triumph.
 
Nick Prkusic, Eric Israel, Michael Louria and Alex Tonge scored for the Colonials (9-14-1, 8-9-1 AHA), who struck three times in the third period as they attempted to mount a comeback.
 
Canisius raced out to a 3-0 lead as they stuck for three goals during a 6:24 stretch midway through the opening frame.
 
Hoover opened the scoring at the 7:02 mark of the first, sliding home a pass from sophomore Austin Alger while the Griffs were on the power play for his sixth of the season.
 
Martan doubled the Canisius advantage less than five minutes later with his fourth of the campaign, stuffing a backdoor feed from McLaughlin past Robert Morris keeper Francis Marotte to make it a 2-0 contest.
 
Obssuth closed out the first-period spurt just 58 seconds after Martan's marker, placing a pass from Hutchison under the crossbar from close range for his third of the season.
 
Prkusic got Robert Morris on the board at the 14:24 mark of the second with a breakaway goal to make it a 3-1 game.
 
Hutchison restored Canisius' three-goal lead a little more than three minutes later, burying a cross-ice feed from Alger while the Griffs were on the power play for his 10th of the campaign.
 
The teams traded goals early in the third as Israel netted his fourth of the season 3:44 into the final frame to trim the Colonials deficit to 4-2, only to have McLaughlin score with a wrist shot a little more than two minutes later for Canisius' third power-play tally of the contest to put the Griffs back in front by three.
 
Robert Morris made things interesting in the final minutes, scoring twice in a 43-second span to pull within one.
 
Louria began the sequence by netting his fourth of the season while the Colonials were on the power play with 2:27 to play in regulation. Tonge continued the Robert Morris surge on the following shift, taking advantage of an extra attacker to record his team-leading 11th goal of the year and make it a 5-4 game.        
 
McLeod kept the Colonials from completing the comeback, however, closing out the scoring with an empty-net tally with 54 seconds remaining to determine the final margin.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"Anytime you can get two points is great, especially at this time of year when you're scratching and clawing for everything. Our first period was excellent; we weathered some storms in the second, but hat was not the way we wanted to close things out in the third. We have lots of things to work on there.
 
"We ended up putting four forwards on one of our power-play units and they got two big-time goals tonight. We're looking for different things on the power play. I was excited for them that they were able to execute some of the things we've been working on lately. They got some results tonight, especially our power-play goal in the second, that was a huge momentum boost. They were due.
 
"We've got to be better when closing out games in the third period. Tonight is absolutely something we'll learn from. I was disappointed with our demeanor in the third. We had some guys doing things you can't do when you're trying to close out a hockey game. Not playing hard, thinking about offense at times when you have to be concerned with defense and Robert Morris took advantage of that. I'm not surprised that they did, they competed hard to the end. We have to learn from that and get better. There is no choice there."
 
Game Notes
• Canisius moved to 8-7-2 all-time at home against Robert Morris with Saturday's victory.
• The Griffs picked up their third win of the season when recording the first goal of the contest, improving to 3-5-1 in 2018-19 when opening the scoring.
• Canisius moved to 4-2-0 this season when scoring four or more goals in a game.
• Robert Morris out-shot Canisius by a 35-32 margin for the contest, highlighted by a 13-10 margin in the first period.
• Canisius recorded three or more power-play goals for just the second time this season as they were 3-for-5 with the man advantage on Saturday.
• With his two points on Saturday, McLaughlin moved into sole possession of second place on the program's Division I era career points chart. McLaughlin's 134 career points puts him just 13 away from matching Cory Conacher '11 for the first place on the list (147).
• McLaughlin also recorded multiple points in a game for the seventh time this season and the 36th time in his career.
• Both Hoover and Hutchison matched their respective career highs with three points as the duo tallied two assists each to go along with their respective power-play goals.
• McLeod recorded multiple points in a game for the second time in three outings with a goal and an assist on Saturday.
• Alger finished with two assists as he recorded multiple helpers in a contest for the second time this season.
 
Up Next
• Canisius completes its four-game homestand next weekend when it welcomes AHA foe Bentley to KeyBank Rink at Harborcenter for a pair of Atlantic Hockey contests.
• The Griffs and Falcons open their two-game set with 7:35 p.m. contest on Jan. 25 before wrapping up the weekend the following day with a 4:35 matinee.
• Saturday's contest serves as Hall of Fame Day, with the Canisius Athletic Department honoring the inductees of its latest Hall of Fame Class during the first intermission.
• Tickets for both games are still available. They can be purchased by calling 716-888-TIXX or by visiting the ticket page on GoGriffs.com.
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