Ed Mailliard

Box Score

Canisius CAN 3-1-0

Mercyhurst MER 2-5-1

Canisius CAN

3-1-0

Final

Jan. 03, 2021

Mercyhurst MER

2-5-1

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	F
Canisius CAN	1	1	1	3
Mercyhurst MER	0	0	0	0

Game Recap: Ice Hockey | 1/3/2021 6:26:00 PM

Hockey Completes Sweep of Mercyhurst with Sunday Shutout

Next Game:

at RIT

1/30/2021 | 5 p.m.

Next Game

Full Schedule

Jan. 30 (Sat) / 5 p.m.

at RIT

Recap
Roster

Canisius scored a goal in each period and used a 30-save shutout from junior goaltender Matt Ladd to post a 3-0 victory over Mercyhurst in Atlantic Hockey Association action Sunday at the Merychurst Ice Center in Erie, Pa.

Junior Lee Lapid and sophomore Keaton Mastrodonato finished with a goal and an assist while sophomore Simon Gravel accounted for the third Golden Griffins' (3-1-0, 3-1-0 AHA) goal as they completed a home-and-home sweep of the Lakers (2-5-1, 1-2-1 AHA).

That would be all the support Ladd would need as he stopped all 30 shots faced, including a game-high 15 attempts from Mercyhurst in the first period, to record his third career shutout.

Hank Johnson finished with 30 saves between the pipes for Mercyhurst.

Mastrodonato opened the scoring with his team-leading third goal of the season at the 6:41 mark of the first as he fired home a rebound from just off the right post.

Gravel doubled the Canisius advantage to 2-0 with a power-play goal less than four minutes into the second, depositing a cross-ice feed from Mastodonato into the back of the net for his second of the campaign.

Lapid closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal in the final minute of regulation.

Mercyhurst's best chance to get on the board came at the midway point of the third, when a wrist shot from Brendan Schneider on the rush hit the crossbar before Devon Daniels' rebound attempt found the right post and stayed out.

Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"Defensive effort tonight was required. It was definitely an emotional game. The second period saw penalties on both sides. That always brings some extra emotion to each bench. All in all, it was a really good defensive game by us. Matt Ladd was unbelievable. When we needed him, he was extremely solid in goal. Everybody needed commitment in terms of defense and we were able to get that tonight.

"Mercyhurst put more pressure on us to start the game; especially in terms of putting pucks behind our defenseman and really getting after us on the forecheck. That felt different tonight than last night. The early effort from them in that area got them some possession and it got them some shots on net. But Matt Ladd was great. As the game went on, our guys started to understand 'Okay, we need to come back with a purpose. We need to work hard together to break the puck out as a group of five.' As the game went on, Mercyhurst started to tire a little bit, because it takes a lot of effort to play like that all the time. The combination of us being able to handle it better, not with working harder, but just getting guys back and being more available and having close support. That allowed us to negate their forecheck, which was the primary reason for some of their early offensive success.

"I was pleased with the third period tonight. It's 2-0 for most of the third and talking with the guys and the staff afterwards, what was great is when an opponent is down in the third, they're going to take more risks. Chances are they're going to start to put some pressure on you. That's just what happens inside of games. But we didn't allow them to do that. We had a lot of time in their end, which takes a lot of energy away from them. They're not in our end building momentum. It really went back and forth. They would have a good shift, but then we would follow that up with a great shift. We would follow that next one up with a really good shift, playing down in their end and it takes a lot out of you to play defense as hard as they were required to when we were really humming in moments during the third. I was very pleased with our effort in that area. Obviously, a huge three points tonight and six points for the weekend."

Game Notes
• Sunday's game served as the second of five scheduled regular-season contests between Canisius and Mercyhurst. The teams are still slated to play on Jan. 12 (Buffalo), Feb. 2 (Erie, Pa.) and Feb. 14 (Buffalo).
• The Griffs have won four straight games against Mercyhurst and are undefeated in their last five matchups against the Lakers (4-0-1).
• Canisius out-shot Mercyhurst by a 33-30 margin for the contest. The Griffs out-chanced the Lakers, 24-15, over the final two periods after the hosts posted a 15-9 edge during the first.
• Canisius was 1-for-4 on the power play while Mercyhurst was 0-for-4 with the man advantage on Sunday.
• The Griffs improved to 2-0-0 this season when scoring the first goal of the game. Canisius also improved to 2-0-0 this season when leading after 40 minutes of play.
• With his two points on Sunday, Mastrodonato has scored a point in all four games he has played against Mercyhurst in his career (4g, 3a).
• Mastodonato also recorded the second game-winning goal of his career with his first-period marker. Both of his game-winning goals have come against Mercyhurst (Feb. 28, 2020).
• With an assist on Mastrodonato's goal, junior Mitchell Martan extended his point-scoring streak to three games (2g, 1a).
• Gravel also extended his current point-scoring streak to three games with his second-period tally (2g, 1a).
• Lapid recorded multiple points in a game for the first time this season and the seventh time in his career with his two-point effort on Sunday.
• Ladd posted his third career shutout on Sunday and his first since a 4-0 shutout of Union back on Nov. 2, 2019.

Up Next
• Canisius is scheduled to play Atlantic Hockey foe RIT three times next week, starting with a 7 p.m. contest at LECOM Harborcenter on Jan. 6.
• The teams are also slated to play a 5 p.m. game on Jan. 8 at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester before returning to Buffalo for the final game of the series on Jan. 10, a 2 p.m. matinee.

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