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Canisius University Athletics

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Canisius defenseman Jackson Decker shields the puck during game action against Mercyhurst at LECOM Harborcenter on Nov. 20, 2021
Lindy Feider
5
Winner Mercyhurst MER 3-5-4, 3-3-4
2
Canisius CAN 7-5-1, 4-2-0
Winner
Mercyhurst MER
3-5-4, 3-3-4
5
Final
2
Canisius CAN
7-5-1, 4-2-0
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Mercyhurst MER 1 1 3 5
Canisius CAN 0 0 2 2

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Has Winning Streak Halted by Mercyhurst

Mercyhurst used goals from five different players to post a 5-2 victory over Canisius in Atlantic Hockey Association action Saturday at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
 
Mickey Burns, Pierce Crawford, Kyler Head, Gueorgui Feduolov and Rylee St. Onge all scored for the Lakers (3-5-4, 2-3-4 AHA). Goaltender Kyle McClellan made 38 saves.
 
Juniors Ryan Miotto and Daniel DiGrande accounted for the two goals for the Golden Griffins (7-5-1, 4-2-0 AHA), who saw their four-game winning streak come to an end with Saturday's setback. Junior Jacob Barczewski made 34 saves between the pipes.
 
Burns opened the scoring with a power-play goal at the 17:54 mark of the first period, putting home a loose puck from just off the right post to give the Lakers the lead.
 
Crawford extended the Lakers advantage to 2-0 with a little more than four minutes to play in the second period when his wrap-around attempt deflected off a Canisius defender and into the goal.
 
Head added an insurance marker just 2:29 into the third, stuffing home a rebound from the top of the Griffs' crease to make it a 3-0 contest.
 
After Feduolov made it a 4-0 contest with a power-play goal just past the midway point of the third, Canisus tallied a pair of power-play goals during a five-minute major to make it a 4-2 contest.
 
Miotto began the sequence at the 15:18 mark, directing sophomore Jackson Decker's centering feed between the legs of McClellan before DiGrande stuck a little more than a minute later, beating McClellan with a wrist to the glove side from the middle of the slot to make it a two-goal game.
 
That would be as close as Canisius would get, however, as St. Onge recorded an empty-net tally with two minutes remaining to determine the three-goal margin of victory for the Lakers.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"Give credit to Mercyhurst. The better team won. The team that plays with more urgency and effort and willingness to be disciplined usually wins. Atlantic Hockey is tough. Mercyhurst is a really good team and the hockey gods don't care who wins the hockey game. They reward effort and tonight all the credit goes to Mercyhurst
 
"It's a focus on process. I know that's an overused word in coaching. But it's 100 percent what we got to do. We go back to work on Monday. It doesn't matter who we play, where we play when we play. The focus is on us and that will continue. There are things that we need to address. Discipline is one of those and we will handle that. There were moments tonight where I thought we were good and trying to scratch and claw for our game. But when you give a team a bunch of power plays and they can build some confidence, it gets really tough against a desperate team. So, we go back to what we normally do going into a normal week. We get back to work on Monday.
 
"The penalty kill been really good. The details are there. It didn't happen for them tonight, but I do not blame them. I blame the guys that that put us in consecutive shorthanded situations. There's a point where you just don't have enough gas to continue to kill penalties. I don't know how many power plays they had tonight, but the fact that they were consecutive in moments when you're trying to push is tough. I don't blame the penalty kill or Barzo (Jacob Barczewski). It's too much. It's too much to handle for any team. Our penalty kill is getting better and I like our details. Its the same thing for them: go back to work on Monday. We may adjust some things, but it's just too many in a row for anybody to handle."
 
Game Notes
• Saturday's contest served as the 100th all-time meeting between Canisius and Mercyhurst
• Canisius and Mercyhurst both recorded 40 shots on goal during the contest.
• Canisius was 2-for-8 with the power play on Saturday while Mercyhurst was 3-for-6 with the man advantage.
• The Griffs were held to two goals or fewer for the fifth time this season. Canisius moved to 0-5-0 in 2021-22 when that occurs.
• DiGrande tallied multiple points in a game for the second time this season with his two-point effort on Saturday.
• Decker notched multiple points in a game for the first time in his career with a two-assist effort on Saturday.
• Miotto posted multiple points for the first time this season as he finished with a goal and an assist on Saturday.
 
Up Next
Canisius hosts two-time defending AHA champion AIC for an Atlantic Hockey Association series Thanksgiving Weekend. The Griffs and Yellow Jackets square off in a pair of 1 p.m. matinees Nov. 26-27 at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
 
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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