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Canisius University Athletics

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Canisius forward Max Kouznetsov scores the game-trying goal in the Griffs 6-4 victory over AIC at LECOM Harborcenter on NOv. 26, 2021
Lindy Feider
5
American Int'l AIC 3-9-1, 3-4-0
6
Winner Canisius CAN 8-5-1, 5-2-0
American Int'l AIC
3-9-1, 3-4-0
5
Final
6
Canisius CAN
8-5-1, 5-2-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
American Int'l AIC 2 2 1 5
Canisius CAN 0 3 3 6

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Battles Back to Defeat AIC in Wild Affair

Canisius scored five unanswered goals to rally from a 4-1 deficit and defeat AIC, 6-5, in Atlantic Hockey Association action Friday at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
 
Graduate student Austin Alger and sophomore Max Kouznetsov scored two goals each for the Golden Griffins (8-5-1, 5-2-0 AHA) while graduate student Joey Matthews and junior Daniel DiGrande accounted for the other two Canisius tallies. Junior Jacob Barczewski made 20 saves in goal for the Blue and Gold.
 
Jake Stella scored twice to pace the Yellow Jackets (3-9-1, 3-4-0 AHA). Blake Bennett, Brian Rigali and Brian Kramer scored the other three goals for the visitors. Goaltender Jake Kucharski finished with 19 saves.
 
In a back-and-forth affair that saw both teams hold multiple-goal leads during the contest, special teams played a key role as Canisius was 4-for-8 with the man advantage while AIC was 3-for-6 with the extra attacker.
 
Trailing 4-1 midway through the contest, Canisius began its comeback with a pair of power play goals less than three minutes apart late in the second.
 
Matthews began the sequence at the 14:25 of the middle frame, firing a wrist shot over the glove of Kucharski from the point before Alger struck for his second of the game just 2:21 later when he also beat Kucharski with a wrist shot to the glove side form the middle of the slot to make it a one-goal contest.
 
Kouznetsov put the Griffs in front with back-to-back goals in the third. He tied the game at 4-all with a power-play goal at the 3:17 mark of the frame as he put home a loose puck on the doorstep after sophomore Jackson Decker rang a shot off the crossbar. The second-year center then gave Canisius its first lead of the game just past the midway point of third when he one-timed a feed from freshman Alton McDermott into the Yellow Jackets goal from the right faceoff circle to make it a 5-4 game.
 
DiGrande gave the Griffs a two-goal cushion at the 14:39 mark, deflecting Matthews shot from the point past Kucharski during a delayed penalty sequence to give Canisius a 6-4 advantage.
 
AIC cut the Griffs lead in half with an extra-attacker goal from Brian Kramer on the power play with a little more than three minutes remaining, but Canisius held the Yellow Jackets off the scoreboard rest of the way to record the one-goal victory.
 
Earlier in the contest, AIC held a 2-0 lead after first-period goals from Bennett and Rigali. Alger got Canisius on the board early in the second with a power-play tally, but the Yellow Jackets responded with a pair of man-advantage goals from Stella, giving AIC a three-goal cushion and setting the stage for the Griffs comeback.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"Tonight was a power play game. I give full credit to our power play. They were unbelievable tonight. They got us back in the game and then they continued to score goals and get us momentum. Obviously it was not our best early. But this has kind of been a theme for us this season, as the game goes on, we seem to get better and better. We scratched and clawed tonight and had some great moments to get back into a game, some great moments to get up in the game and then had more great moments to finish it off. It required everybody. AIC is a good team and so are we. We now get ready for a one o'clock game tomorrow.
 
"The power play gets the credit tonight for turning the game around for us. But our mindset and belief were the reason why we continue to build. We're down 4-1 in the middle of the second period. Not every team would be able to respond like we did. But the belief and mindset that we have in our room is that we're going to go over the boards and do our job. As guys got dinged up and hurt and couldn't come back, somebody fills in and it's the next man up/next shift mentality. That's why we won the game tonight. It wasn't that AIC didn't have that. It's that we had that and we continue to push and get better and better. So big credit to our mindset and belief.
 
"They've found chemistry. When I look at Austin producing two goals, Kouznetsov has a great night tonight with a couple goals and DiGrande is finding a nice home with those two guys. They play hard, they play together. They have skill and ability. Obviously, Digs (DiGrande) has a great shot. Kouzy (Kouznetsov) is ultra-competitive and Austin's playing maybe the best hockey that I've seen him play in a Griffs jersey. So, together, that line is consistently putting in great effort. They're not always producing, but it's not from a lack of trying or effort. Tonight, they have a great night when you look at the scoresheet."
 
Game Notes
• Friday's game served as 71st meeting between Canisius and AIC. The Griffs improved to 41-23-7 against the Yellow Jackets all time as they snapped a six-game losing skid to AIC with the victory.
• Both teams finished with 25 shots on goal for the game as AIC out-shot Canisius, 11-4, in the first while Canisius returned the favor in the third with a 10-4 edge in the final frame.
• Canisius' four power-play goals matched their season high in that category, set against RIT on Nov. 12.
• The Griffs improved to 3-1 this season in one-goal games with Friday's victory.
• Canisius matched its season-high in goals as it scored six goals in a game for the third time this season.
• Kouznetsov also added a pair of assists as he finished with a career-high four points on Friday. It marked the third time this season Kouznetsov has tallied multiple points in a game.
• Matthews posted multiple points in a game for the second time this season as he finished with a goal and an assist on Friday.
• DiGrande tallied multiple points in a game for the second straight contest and third time this season as he finished with a goal an assist.
• DiGrande scored the first game-winning goal of his career with the decisive marker on Friday. He is the fifth different Canisius player to score a game-winning goal this season.
• Alger tallied multiple goals in a game for the just the second time in his Canisius career with his two-goal effort on Friday (Dec. 28, 2018 at Union).
 
Up Next
The teams complete their two-game series Saturday with a 1 p.m. puck drop at LECOM Harborcenter.
 
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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