Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Canisius University Athletics

#Griffs The Official Home of the Canisius University Golden Griffins | #Griffs
Canisius forward MItchell Martan plays the puck during the Griffs matchup with Niagara at LECOM Harborcenter on Dec. 9, 2021
Lindy Feider
0
Niagara NIA 3-10-2, 3-4-2
4
Winner Canisius CAN 9-7-2, 6-4-1
Niagara NIA
3-10-2, 3-4-2
0
Final
4
Canisius CAN
9-7-2, 6-4-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Niagara NIA 0 0 0 0
Canisius CAN 1 1 2 4

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Barczewski, Martan Pace Hockey in Shutout Victory Versus Niagara

Senior Mitchell Martan scored two goals and junior goaltender Jacob Barczewski stopped all 32 shots he faced to lead Canisius to a 4-0 victory over Niagara in Atlantic Hockey Association action Thursday at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
 
Junior Ryan Miotto and graduate student Alex Ambrosio accounted for the other two goals for the Golden Griffins (9-7-1, 6-4-1 AHA) as they opened the home-and-home series against their Battle of the Bridge rival with a win.  
 
Chad Veltri made 23 saves between the pipes for the Purple Eagles (3-10-2, 3-4-2 AHA).
 
Martan opened the scoring at the 13:57 mark of the first period, weaving his way through the Niagara defense as he went coast-to-coast with the puck before sneaking a shot under the right arm of Veltri to give the Griffs the lead.
 
Martan struck again late in the second period to give Canisius a 2-0 advantage, tapping home a backdoor feed from sophomore Jackson Decker for his third goal of the season.  
 
The Griffs put the game out of reach with a pair of goals just 67 seconds apart in the third. Miotto stretched the Griffs advantage to 3-0 at the 13:46 mark of the frame, firing home a feed from sophomore Cooper Haar for his fourth of the campaign before Ambrosio closed out the scoring moments later with an empty-net goal.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"Obviously it's a great win against a rival. We started the game very well. I thought Niagara pushed in the second. (Jacob Barczewski) Barzo was excellent when we needed him. Mitchell Martan had a great night. He was super competitive and fast; he had the puck a lot this evening, A big game by Mitchell and a big game by Barzo allowed our depth to really put them to sleep in a third period where they didn't really get a big push and that was a credit to us. So, all-in-all, a great win for our team.
 
"They seem to push it through the neutral zone in the second period. We started to get a little too offensive minded. We were going north as the pucks were going towards our net. That seemed to give them some opportunities. We were talking on the bench about limiting odd-man rushes and it seemed to be over and over again that they were getting some opportunities from them. I thought our rush defense was excellent. We were able to keep them to the outside, which really enabled us to keep their scoring chances down. They were really pushing in the second period and it took a lot for us to get our game back.
 
"I really liked our penalty kill tonight. It was excellent. We were aggressive. We didn't give up a lot of shots. It's something that we've really focused on as a group to get better there. That second goal for Mitchell Martan, we were scratching and clawing for our game and killing a couple penalties. That's a big goal when you can go up to 2-0 late in the second period and really deflate the opponent. Then our composure took over in the third."
 
Game Notes
• Thursday's game served as the 57th meeting between Canisius and Niagara in the Division I era of the series. The Griffs now lead the matchup with the Purple Eagles by a 28-23-6 margin.
• Niagara out-shot Canisius, 32-27, for the contest, highlighted by a 12-5 advantage in the third period.
• Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play. All six power-play opportunities took place during the first two periods of the game.
• Canisius improved to 7-0-0 this season when scoring the first goal of the game and moved to 8-0-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game.
• The Griffs improved to 5-0-0 this season when leading after two periods with Thursday's victory.
• Martan tallied multiple goals in a game for the first time in his career with his two-goal effort on Thursday. He also recorded multiple points in a game for the sixth time this season with his two-point effort.
• The game-winning goal was the second of Martan's career and the second this calendar year (Jan. 3 vs Mercyhurst).
• Junior Keaton Mastrodonato became the first Canisius player to reach 20 points this season with an assist on Martan's first-period tally.
• Barczewski recorded his third career shutout and the first of the season with his 32-save effort on Thursday. His 32 saves also marked the fourth time this season he has finished a game with 30 or more saves.
• Thursday' shutout was the fourth for the Griffs against the Purple Eagles in series history and the first since a 3-0 victory in game one of an AHA Quarterfinal-round series at Harborcenter on March 11, 2017.
 
Up Next
The teams complete their two-game series Friday with a 7 p.m. contest at Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, N.Y.
 
For complete coverage of the Canisius hockey team, please follow the Griffs on social media at @GriffsHockey on Twitter and Instagram.
 
Print Friendly Version