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Canisius forward Lee Lapid takes a faceoff against a RPI skater during game action at Houston Field House on Oct. 15, 2021
RPI Athletics
3
Winner Canisius CANISIUS 2-2-0
2
Rensselaer RPI 1-2-1
Winner
Canisius CANISIUS
2-2-0
3
Final
2
Rensselaer RPI
1-2-1
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 OT 1 F
Canisius CANISIUS 1 1 0 1 3
Rensselaer RPI 2 0 0 0 2

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Mastrodonato’s Overtime Heroics Lift Hockey Past RPI, 3-2

Junior forward Keaton Mastrodonato scored with less than a minute remaining in overtime to give Canisius a 3-2 victory over RPI in collegiate men's ice hockey action Saturday at Houston Field House in Troy, N.Y.
 
Mastrodonato scored his team-leading fourth goal of the campaign to complete a comeback that saw the Golden Griffins (2-2-0) rally from a pair of one-goal deficits to pull out the victory.
 
Sophomore Randy Hernandez accounted for both Canisius goals in regulation as he found the back of the net for the first time in Blue and Gold.
 
Ryan Mahshie and Ottoville Leppanen scored the two goals for the host Engineers (1-2-1).
 
With less than a minute to play during 3-on-3 overtime, Mastrodonato took a pass from senior Lee Lapid at the top of the RPI zone, slipped past an Engineers forward and unleashed a wrist shot from the middle of the slot that went over the glove of goaltender Jack Watson to give the Griffs the overtime triumph.
 
Earlier in the contest, Mahshie opened the scoring just 1:16 into the game with a power-play goal, beating Canisius junior goaltender Jacob Barczewski with a wrist shot to the glove side from the top of the right faceoff circle.
 
Hernandez tied the game at the 12:34 mark of the opening frame, racing past the RPI defense to a loose puck before beating Watson with a wrist shot to the glove side to knot the score at 1-1.
 
Leppanen restored RPI's advantage less than three minutes after Hernandez's goal when a shot attempt from Dubinsky form the middle of the slot deflected onto the stick of Leppanen, who beat a sprawling Barczewski from the bottom of the left faceoff circle to make it a 2-1 contest.
 
Hernandez again brought the Griffs level with a power-play goal just past the halfway point of the middle frame, taking a feed from sophomore Max Kouznetsov and sliding the puck around an outstretched Watson and inside the right post to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Barczewski started the game in goal for Canisius before suffering an injury early in the third that required him to leave the game. Junior John Hawthorne came on in relief and kept RPI off the board the rest of the way to earn his first win in a Canisius uniform.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"We're always looking to build over the course of a weekend. If you look at our effort last night, which wasn't what it needed to be to beat any opponent, it was about how are we going to respond tonight. Early in the game, RPI may have played their best period of the weekend in the first. They were on us quite a bit. We go into the second period down 2-1, but then things started to happen for us and our effort started to really show up. We started to skate and work and check. We were able to earn some power plays and that gave us some momentum and the next thing you know you got a tied hockey game with a couple of skilled plays from our power play guys. Obviously, it required everything to get the win, including extra time tonight, but a big play by one of our best players and high effort guys (Keaton Mastrodonato) who decided to win the game by himself with a great individual effort in overtime. Unbelievable victory.
 
"We expect both those guys (Keaton Mastrodonato and Randy Hernandez) to produce. We expect them to play hard and play well and their efforts tonight reflected that. It was a big individual effort from Randy on the first goal with a defensive zone loss, he ends up getting a block and creates a breakaway with his speed and finishes that play off. At the time, we were hanging on. So that was obviously a big moment. Then we get a 5-on-3 and a major penalty in the second. I felt that maybe we could have gotten more than one there, but a great individual skill play around the net from Hernandez ties the game up. Keaton's play at the end; it was time for him to take over. That's when he's at his best, when he goes 'I'm going to go end this game.' Unbelievable skill play when he was tired and maybe there's a thought that he should get off but that kid just gets it done. He went out made a great individual effort and had a big-time finish in an overtime win. That's the fun part of college hockey.
 
"The response (in the third) was tremendous. You'd never want to see anybody on either team get hurt. Barczewski was battling. He was playing really well and then he just catches the puck in the wrong spot. The part that's the best is, as he's coming to the bench, our whole teams is telling him not to worry, we got this one for you. We have all the confidence in the world with John Hawthorne in net. He was solid. We continued to play and stay aggressive and that's what's required if you're going to defend hard. Then we really started to push. So overall, when your goalie come to the bench and the other guy goes in, that's the response we're looking for, that next shift mentality. That's what we proved we're capable of tonight."
 
Game Notes
• Canisius picked up its first win in four tries against RPI with Saturday's victory. All four games between the programs have come since the start of the 2019-20 season.
• Canisius recorded its seventh overtime victory under fifth-year head coach Trevor Large and its first since a 4-3 triumph versus Mercyhurst on Feb. 16, 2021.
• Hernandez scored his first two goals in a Canisius uniform on Saturday. The multi-goal effort was the first of his collegiate career and the eighth time in 28 career games that he finished with two or more points.
• The game-winning goal by Mastrodonato was his second of the season and the fourth of his career. Two of his four career GWG have come in overtime.
• Mastrodonato has scored a goal in all four games for the Griffs this season, the longest goal-scoring streak of his career.
• Hawthorne picked up his first victory in a Canisius uniform and his first win between the pipes since a 4-2 win at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 25, 2020.
• Sophomore defenseman Jackson Decker picked up his point of the season after recording a secondary assist on Mastrodonato's overtime winner.
 
Up Next
Canisius finishes its season-opening road swing Tuesday when it squares off against Clarkson in a 7 p.m. puck drop at Cheel Arena in Potsdam, N.Y.
 
For complete coverage of the Canisius hockey team, please follow the Griffs on social media at @GriffsHockey on Twitter and Instagram.
 
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