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Canisius University Athletics

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Matt Hoover skates the puck up the ice during Canisius' matchup with RPI at the LECOM Harborenter on Nov. 23, 2019
Dean Bogart
4
Winner Army ARMY 9-4-0, 7-4-0 AHA
3
Canisius CAN 2-9-0, 1-4-0 AHA
Winner
Army ARMY
9-4-0, 7-4-0 AHA
4
Final
3
Canisius CAN
2-9-0, 1-4-0 AHA
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Army ARMY 2 0 2 4
Canisius CAN 0 0 3 3

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Last-Second Goal Sinks Hockey Against Army

Eric Butte scored with three seconds remaining in regulation to break a 3-3 tie and lift Army to a 4-3 victory over Canisius in Atlantic Hockey Association action Friday at KeyBank Rink at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
 
Zach Evancho tallied a goal and three assists while Michael Wilson added a goal and two helpers to pace the visiting Black Knights (9-4-0, 7-4-0 AHA). Dominic Franco opened the scoring to account for the fourth Army goal.
 
Seniors Matt Hoover and Matt Stief tallied a goal and an assist each for the Golden Griffins (2-9-0, 1-4-0 AHA). Junior Grant Meyer recorded Canisius' first goal with an unassisted effort early in the third.
 
With less than 10 seconds remaining in regulation, Evancho forced a turnover at the Griffs blueline and played the puck into the left corner of the Canisius zone, where Wilson won a footrace and played the puck to Butte in the slot. Butte collected Wilson's pass and beat Griffs keeper Daniel Urbani with a shot inside the left post to give the Black Knights the win.
 
Army held a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes thanks to first-period goals from Franco and Evancho, only to see Canisius battle back with three tallies in the opening 8:06 of the third to take the lead.
 
Meyer began the sequence just 2:20 into the frame, converting on a breakaway opportunity to get the Griffs on the board before Stief and Hoover recorded a pair of power-play tallies less than two minutes apart to put Canisius in front, 3-2.
 
Stief tied the game at 2-2 with 6:27 elapsed in the third, firing a wrist shot through traffic during a 4-on-3 opportunity while Hoover stuck for the go-ahead marker just 1:54 later, beating Army goaltender Trevin Kozlowski with a slapshot over the glove from the top of the right face-off circle.
 
Wilson brought Army level at the 12:46 mark of the third, jamming home a loose puck from just in front of the Canisius goal to knot the game at 3-3 and the stage for Butte's last-second heroics.  
 
Urbani made 16 saves in goal for Canisius while Kozlowski finished with 17 saves between the pipes for Army.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"Obviously it's a tough loss with the way it ended, letting in a goal with three seconds left to lose the game. Our group is trying to find a way to win and right now, we're making it tough on ourselves. I'm not trying to take anything away from Army, but we took too many penalties, had a couple of tough goals go in against us. We're scratching and clawing to find a way, but we don't have enough guys pulling their weight currently. We need to play harder, play more together. It's a scenario where we need more from a lot of guys. It would be a lot easier if we were talking about a couple of players, but we need more from a lot of guys wearing Blue and Gold currently.
 
"Against any penalty kill, and Army has some really good numbers on the penalty kill right now, the key is execution. We talked a lot about it, we knew what our plan was. We went out and were assertive, we passed the puck well and opened up some good spaces and we were able to pass and shoot quickly. I loved our power play tonight. They did an extremely nice job to give us a chance to win the game. We need to do more of that moving forward. I also loved our penalty kill. Army went 0-for-5 on the power play tonight and we won the special teams battle. That should be enough to win some games, but right now we need everything. Good for special teams, but we need to get to work 5-on-5."
 
Game Notes
• Friday's game served as the 62nd meeting between Canisius and Army. The all-time series is now tied at 28-28-6 following the Black Knights' victory on Friday.
• Army out-shot Canisius, 31-20, for the contest, highlighted by a 13-2 edge in shots on goal during the first period.
• Canisius played its second straight one-goal game and fifth straight contest decided by two goals or less with Friday's result.
• Canisius is the first team to record multiple power-play goals against Army this season as the Griffs were 2-for-6 with the man advantage. Army was 0-for-5 on the power play on Friday.
• Stief and Hoover both recorded multiple points in a game for the second time this season with their two-point efforts on Friday. It was also the 11th multiple-point game of Hoover's career and the eighth for Stief.
• Meyer became the 11th different Canisius player to record a goal this season with his third-period tally. His unassisted effort was also the second unassisted goal of the campaign for the Griffs.
 
Up Next
• The teams complete their two-game series Saturday with a 1:05 p.m. opening face-off at LECOM Harborcenter.
• Tickets for the game are still available. They can purchased by calling 716-888-TIXX or by visiting Ticketmaster.com.
 
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