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Canisius University Athletics

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BUFFALO, N.Y. - Canisius' Matt Hoover scores on the breakaway during the Griffs matchup with Air Force at LECOM Harborcenter on Feb. 7, 2020
Canisius University Athletics
3
Air Force AF 8-14-5, 8-10-5 AHA
3
Canisius CAN 7-15-5, 6-10-5 AHA
Air Force AF
8-14-5, 8-10-5 AHA
3
Final
3
Canisius CAN
7-15-5, 6-10-5 AHA
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 OT 1 F
Air Force AF 2 0 1 0 3
Canisius CAN 0 1 2 0 3

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Posts 3-3 Tie in Opener Versus Air Force

Senior defenseman Matt Stief tallied a goal and an assist to pace Canisius in a 3-3 tie versus Air Force in Atlantic Hockey action Friday at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
 
Fellow seniors Nick Hutchison and Matt Hoover also scored for the Golden Griffins (7-15-5, 6-10-5-3 AHA)
 
Bennett Norlin, Blake Bride and Alex Meinhart accounted for the three goals for the Falcons (8-14-4, 8-10-4-3 AHA), who picked up the extra point with the victory in the sudden-death shootout.
 
Norlin staked Air Force to an early 1-0 lead, slamming home a loose puck less than three minutes into the game after Pierce Pluemer's initial attempt was turned aside by Canisius goaltender Jacob Barczewski.
 
Bride made it a 2-0 advantage in favor of the visitors with 7:19 elapsed in the opening frame, depositing a loose puck into the Griffs from just off the right post.
 
Stief pulled Canisius within one a little more than four minutes into the second, burying fellow senior Casey Jerry's cross-ice feed past Air Force goaltender Alex Schilling from the right face-off circle for his third of the season.
 
Hutchison tied the game with 3:26 elapsed in the third period, tapping home Stief's backdoor feed from just off the right post for his team-leading 15th goal of the season.  
 
The teams then traded unassisted efforts just 1:22 apart to close out the scoring in regulation. Hoover started the sequence just before the 12-minute mark of the third, stripping an Air Force defenseman of the puck in the neutral zone before racing in on goal and beating Schilling on the backhand to give Canisius its first lead of the game, 3-2.
 
Menhert answered back for Air Force just moments later, finishing off an end-to-end rush down the left-hand side with snap shot past the blocker of Barczewski for his first of the season.
 
The game remained tied through the end of regulation and both the 5-on-5 and 3-on-3 overtime sessions, sending the game to a sudden-death shootout. In the second round of the shootout, Luke Manning beat Barczewski with a between the legs to earn the extra point for the Falcons.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"It's a disappointing result. You look at the game and in the first period we were absolutely flat. Air Force was a lot better than we were in the first. That's the disappointing part, because for the next 40 minutes we were strong. Anytime you have a horrific start like that and get a tie and get it to a shootout, some teams might be happy with that, but we're really disappointed. We felt like that was a game that was ours and we should have ended up with three points and we come away with one and that's just not acceptable this time of year.
 
"After the first period, we started to play. It's very obvious that, for whatever reason, we had we had nothing off the start. We responded by just playing harder, checking, not being afraid to make a play and not being afraid to own the moment. We started to find our game. We earned a power play. We get a couple goals, we were able to get some offensive zone time, we were able to build from there. But, when I think about this game, it's just a bad taste in your mouth with the way we that we started. That really was a huge part of the result tonight and we have to find a way to be way better at the beginning of the game. That's completely unacceptable.
 
"Our leadership is great. Even in that first period, our bench was talking, we were staying positive. We were really doing a good job interacting on the bench, it just wasn't going our way. We had a quick discussion in the first intermission about how talk is talk, but you have to be able to go out and play. (Matt) Hoover was a warrior all night and was able to get us back into the game, (Nick) Hutchison was a big part of it as well. Casey Jerry was really strong tonight. He competed extremely hard and earned more ice time. We switched the lines up a little bit to just to try to kickstart us and we were able to do that, but that's not something that is going to be great for our future. Start to finish, you need 60, sometimes 65, sometimes 70 minutes to win in this league. Our goal is three points. We just we have to find more efforts to earn that."
 
Game Notes
• Friday's game served as the 48th meeting between Canisius and Air Force. The Falcons now hold a 23-15-10 edge in the all-time series versus the Golden Griffins with Friday's tie.
• Friday's shootout was the third of the season for Canisius, who is now 1-2 in the new format.
• Air Force out-shot Canisius by a 28-21 margin for the contest, with more than half of their shots coming in a first period (15).  
• Neither team scored on the power play as there were a total of just three minor penalties called in the contest.
• Stief tallied multiple points in a game for the fifth time this season and 11th time in his career with his two-point effort on Friday.  
• Stief's assist on Hutchison's third-period goal was the 52nd of his career, moving him within one of matching former teammate Cameron Heath for second on the program's Division I era chart for assists by a defenseman.  
• With his third-period goal, Hutchison moved into a tie with Kyle Gibbons (2010-14) for fourth place on the program's Division I era chart for career goals (57).
• Mastrodonato extended his point-scoring streak to three games with his secondary assist on Stief's second-period goal.
• Hoover's third-period goal was just the fourth unassisted goal by the Griffs this season.
 
Up Next
• The teams complete their two-game series Saturday with a 4:05 p.m. matinee at LECOM Harborcenter.
• Tickets for the game are still available. They can be purchased by calling 716-888-TIXX or by visiting Ticketmaster.com.
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