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Canisius University Athletics

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Canisius forwards Mitchell Martan looks for the puck under the pad of Air Force goaltender Alex Schilling during game action at Cadet Ice Arena on Dec. 4, 2021
Paat Kelly/Air Force Athletics
3
Canisius CAN 8-7-2, 5-4-1
3
Air Force AF 5-9-2, 3-5-2
Canisius CAN
8-7-2, 5-4-1
3
Final
3
Air Force AF
5-9-2, 3-5-2
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 OT 1 OT 2 F
Canisius CAN 0 2 1 0 0 3
Air Force AF 1 2 0 0 0 3

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Battles to 3-3 Tie in Weekend Finale at Air Force

Canisius battled back from three one-goal deficits to earn a 3-3 tie versus Air Force in Atlantic Hockey Association action Saturday at the United States Air Force Academy's Cadet Ice Arena.
 
Junior David Melaragni and graduate students Alex Ambrosio and Austin Alger scored for the Golden Griffins (8-7-2, 5-4-1 AHA). Junior goaltender John Hawthorne made 33 saves between the pipes.
 
Willie Reim, Brian Adams and Lucas Coon scored for the Falcons (5-9-2, 3-5-2 AHA), who picked up the extra point as Will Gavin was the only player to score during the best-of-three shootout. Alex Schilling made 22 saves in goal.
 
Reim opened the scoring just 3:30 into the contest, beating Hawthorne with a wrist shot to the blocker side from the bottom of the right faceoff circle.
 
The teams traded goals just 13 seconds apart near the midway point of the second. Melaragni scored off a rebound at the nine-minute mark of the frame to tie the game at 1-1, only to see Adams put the Falcons back in front on the next shift when he deposited Blake Bride's centering feed from below the goal line into the Griffs cage.
 
Ambrosio brought Canisius level for the second time in the period less than four minutes later, sneaking a wrist shot under the left arm of Schilling to knot the score at 2-2.
 
The Falcons once again responded, retaking the lead just 68 seconds after Ambrosio's equalizer as Coon tapped home a backdoor feed from Jacob Marti, putting Air Force back in front, 3-2.
 
Canisius tied the game for the third time in the contest at the 5:49 mark of the third when Alger's wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle deflected off an Air Force defender and into the Falcons goal to knot the score at 3-3.
 
Despite chances for both sides, neither team was able to get on the board through the remainder of regulation or during the 3-on-3 overtime, sending the game to a shootout.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"The entire coaching staff is extremely proud of the effort from the team tonight. We're not an excuse type of culture, but the amount of guys that we have out of the lineup right now is unbelievable and even with that built-in excuse, we have guys who gave everything, even playing different positions. John Hawthorne was spectacular tonight; really solid and battled. It just kept coming. Guys were dinged up as we were playing. Injuries happen. But the amount that we're dealing with is a lot and I was really proud of how we battled back against a team that is at home and we ended up tying it up in a third period. We had some opportunities to win the game in overtime and ultimately lose in a shootout, so it doesn't feel good to lose a game, but really proud of the effort of our guys. They did whatever it took tonight to walk away with a point.
 
"The lesson learned is adversity hits every team throughout the season. Sometimes it comes in waves. The amount of adversity that we've been dealing with, I don't have the words to explain it. The lesson we take from this weekend is anybody or anything can fill us with adversity. That's fine. We'll smile. You find out a lot about your team when you're up against it and everything just keeps coming at you and coming at you. And I'm not just talking about Air Force. We're going to just continue to say 'it's fine. We can do it. We can handle this together.' So the lesson we learned is go ahead and fill us with adversity and we'll just smile.
 
"I was our net-front presence tonight that helped us. If you look back to Friday night, it was a lack of net-front presence and us staying on the perimeter. It's hard for us to generate shots on net and get scoring chances that way. Our guys listened and were coachable and we had a much better net front presence tonight. It was every guy up and down the roster. That really helped us. That helped us generate multiple scoring chances. So that adjustment was very good from a team that could have played on the perimeter if they chose to and we decided not to tonight."
 
Game Notes
• Air Force out-shot Canisius, 36-24, for the contest, highlighted by 13-5 margin in the first period.
• Neither team was able to convert on the power play as Canisius was 0-for-5 with the man advantage while Air Force was 0-for-3.
• Canisius took part in its first shootout since Feb. 21, 2020. The Griffs moved to 1-4 all-time in the format with Saturday's loss.
• The Griffs improved to 8-0-2 this season when scoring three or more goals in a game.
• Melaragni is the fifth different defenseman to score a goal for Canisius this season.
• Senior Mitchell Martan recorded multiple assists in a game for the fifth time this season as he recorded two assists on Saturday.
• Alger scored his seventh goal of the season on Saturday. It was only his second even-strength tally of the season.
• Hawthorne recorded 30 or more saves in a game for the second time this season with his 33-save effort on Saturday.
 
Up Next
Canisius closes out the first half of the regular season with a home-and-home series against Battle of the Bridge rival Niagara. The AHA series begins Dec. 9 at LECOM Harborcenter before shifting to Dwyer Arena in Lewiston the following evening for the finale. Start time for both games is slated for 7 p.m.

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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