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Canisius University Athletics

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Forward Keaton Mastrodonato collects the puck in the offensive zone during Canisius' contest versus Niagara at Harborcenter on on Nov. 16, 2019
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5
Winner Canisius CAN 6-12-4, 5-7-4
2
Sacred Heart SHU 14-8-2, 13-6-1
Winner
Canisius CAN
6-12-4, 5-7-4
5
Final
2
Sacred Heart SHU
14-8-2, 13-6-1
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Canisius CAN 3 1 1 5
Sacred Heart SHU 1 1 0 2

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Defeats Sacred Heart to Continue Unbeaten Streak

Canisius took an early lead and never looked back as it extended its unbeaten streak to eight games with a 5-2 victory over league-leading Sacred Heart in Atlantic Hockey action Saturday at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn.
 
Freshman Keaton Mastrodonato scored twice while senior Nick Hutchison, junior Matt Long and fellow freshman Ryan Miotto also found the back of the net for the Golden Griffins (6-12-4, 5-7-4-3 AHA). Freshman goaltender Jacob Barczewski matched his season high with 33 saves between the pipes for Canisius.
 
Austin McIlmurray and Jason Cotton accounted for the two goals for the host Pioneers (14-8-2, 13-6-1-0 AHA). Josh Benson finished with 13 saves in goal for Sacred Heart.
 
Mastrodonato staked the Griffs to a quick 2-0 lead with a pair of tallies in the opening three minutes of the contest, opening the scoring with a rebound goal just 87 seconds into play before finishing off a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush with a snap shot over the right shoulder of Benson for his second of the frame.
 
McIlmurray got the Pioneers on the board at the 7:42 mark of the first with a power-play goal, one-timing a slap shot past Barczewski from the left faceoff circle.
 
Long restored Canisius' two-goal advantage before the midway point of the opening frame, jamming home a loose puck from the top of the crease after sophomore Mitchell Martan's initial attempt was turned aside.
 
Cotton once again pulled the Pioneers within one with a 4-on-4 goal less than three minutes into the second as fired a shot off the left post that eventually found its way into the Canisius goal to trim the Griffs margin to 3-2.
 
Miotto put Canisius back in front by two at the 15:25 mark of the second, putting home a loose puck from the middle of the slot for his second of the campaign.
 
Hutchison closed out the scoring with a power-play goal at the 12:01 mark of the third, deflecting a point shot from sophomore Lee Lapid past Benson for his team-leading 13th goal of the campaign to determine the final margin.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"It was a huge effort from the guys today. Obviously, it was a great weekend for us, coming in playing an extremely good Sacred Heart team at the top of the conference and the Griffs are trying to stay hot, is what we're doing now. Playing games is good for us. It seems like we're able to win games when we don't play our best and we're able to win games when we do. Tonight, we had a great effort from our entire team. Our depth scoring showed up. Mastrodonato gets a couple quick goals to start the game and then the line of Mitchell Martan, Ryan Miotto and Austin Alger were awesome as the game started to progress. (Jacob) Barczewski had another great outing. What I remember the most is a huge glove save that he made in the third when it was 4-2 and Sacred Heart is pushing, he came up huge and then a big power-play goal by our most skilled players to make it 5-2. So, all-in-all, I could not be prouder of the effort this entire weekend. We're definitely playing harder, more together and extremely focused right now.
 
"Growth has been what we have been trying to do all season and our third period tonight was our best road period where you're up a couple goals in a game and you need to own the middle of the ice, you need to pay attention to F-3, you need to play a proper system, and the players need to give everything they have. We had that from the top to the bottom of our lineup. You're trying to put the opponent to sleep. That was our best effort at doing that, so that's a great recipe for us moving forward. Get up in games and put an opponent to sleep. So, I was very happy with how the guys used effort, and our strategy, to beat an opponent tonight."
 
Game Notes
• Sacred Heart out-shot Canisius, 35-18, for the contest, highlighted by a 22-8 margin over the final two periods.
• Canisius was 1-for-3 on the power play while Sacred Heart was 1-for-7 with the man advantage on Saturday. The Griffs have scored at least one power-play goal in each of their last nine contests.
• Canisius tallied four or more goals in a game for the sixth time this season and improved to 5-0-1 when doing so. The Griffs also moved to 6-2-0 in 2019-20 when leading after 40 minutes.
• Mastrodonato recorded both multiple points and goals in a game for the first time in his career with his two-goal effort on Saturday.
• Martan tallied multiple assists in a game for the first time in his career with his two-assist effort on Saturday. The game was also the first multiple-point outing of his career.
• Hutchison's power-play goal in the third period was the 25th of his career, surpassing Ralph Cuddemi (2012-16) to move into sole possession of second place on the program's Division I era chart
• Junior Austin Alger tallied multiple assists in a game for the second time this season and sixth time in his career with his two-assist effort on Saturday.
• Long's game-winning goal was his first of the season and the second of his career (2/3/18 vs. Holy Cross). He also recorded multiple points in a game for the first time this season and just the second time in his career as he finished with a goal and an assist. 
 
Up Next
• Canisius completes its season series with longtime rival RIT with the second of two home-and-home series.
• The Griffs and Tigers open the weekend series Jan. 24 with a 7:35 p.m. contest at LECOM Harborcenter before the series shifts to Rochester for the series finale the following evening. Puck drop for the contest at the Gene Polisseni Center is slated for 7 p.m.
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