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Canisius University Athletics

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Canisius senior forward Lee Lapid skates with the puck during game action versus Niagara at LECOM Harborcenter on DEc. 9, 2021
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2
Winner Canisius CAN 11-9-3, 8-6-2
1
Holy Cross HCR 5-16-2, 3-9-2
Winner
Canisius CAN
11-9-3, 8-6-2
2
Final
1
Holy Cross HCR
5-16-2, 3-9-2
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Canisius CAN 0 1 1 2
Holy Cross HCR 0 0 1 1

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Finishes Road Trip with Victory Over Holy Cross

Junior goaltender Jacob Barczewski recorded a career-high 43 saves to pace Canisius in a 2-1 victory over Holy Cross in Atlantic Hockey Association action Saturday at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass.
 
Graduate student Austin Alger and senior Lee Lapid scored the two goals for the Golden Griffins (11-9-3, 8-6-2 AHA), who finished the weekend with five of a possible six points from its two-game series against the Crusaders (5-16-2, 3-9-2 AHA).
 
Bobby Young tallied the lone goal for Holy Cross, who out-shot Canisius by a 44-15 margin for the contest, while Matt Radomsky finished with 13 saves between the pipes.
 
Much like the series opener on Friday, Saturday's finale started out as a defensive battle, with the teams holding each other off the scoreboard through the opening 27 minutes of play.
 
Alger finally broke the deadlock at the 7:50 mark of the second, firing a one-timer from the top of the point Radomsky to give Canisius the lead.
 
Lapid doubled the Griffs advantage to 2-0 just before the five-minute mark of the third with a power-play goal, deflecting senior Mitchell Martan's point shot under Radomsky's blocker for his seventh goal of the season.
 
Young got Holy Cross back into the contest less than five minutes later when he was rewarded with a rebound goal after Barczewski turned aside an initial attempt from the stick of Liam Connors.
 
The Crusaders continued to push for the equalizer, but Barczewski and the Canisius defense kept Holy Cross off the scoreboard the rest of the way, allowing the Griffs to hold on for the one-goal victory.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"Jacob Barczewski had what was one of the best goaltending performances that I've seen in my time as a Division I coach. It wasn't a lack of effort on our part, but Holy Cross out-competed us; they won battles. They played well the entire game and Jacob Barczewski was the difference. You got to give the leaders of our team credit. We did not have our best at all for 60 minutes and we found a way a way to win a hockey game. A huge goal from the power play to put us up 2-0 from Lee Lapid. A really good play from David Melaragni to make a pass to Austin Alger to get us the first goal. You put this one in a blender and the answer to the equation is Jacob Barczewski.
 
"They were harder than us; every one of their guys going over the boards. It's tough to play on the road in Atlantic Hockey. I give a lot of credit to Holy Cross. They were one of the most competitive teams that that we've played all year. It was really tough to contain their energy level. Our guys continued to work at it. We tried to make some adjustments and did some things as we were scratching and clawing to try to find our game and it wasn't anything in particular from Holy Cross other than compete level. It seemed like they had the best of us for the most of the night and we were taking it; we were trying to find our game and get some energy. Good on us for staying out of the penalty box for the most part, having good discipline, sticking with the game plan and playing together. But all the credit tonight goes to goes to Barzo.
 
"Defense has really been a focus with this group for probably about a year and a half now. It dates back to last year. We've really focused on being a better defensive team and it paid dividends in a successful season last year. We win because we play together and we win because we defend really, really hard. There's statistics that back that up in that we lead the conference in blocked shots. Defense is the way to consistently win hockey games. We have the ability, we have the skating, we have the skill to win some games with our offense and our power play. We've done that at times, but are the common denominator of teams that win the conference and have success in the playoffs is defense. Our guys understand that and this game required all the effort we had defensively, plus really strong goaltending, block shots when we needed them and discipline to stay out of the penalty box. So, I am pleased to see that the guys are listening. Those are really important things for us to win consistently. Our players are why we win. Their compete for each other in all moments of a hockey game. That is why even though we didn't have our best tonight, we came away with the result we wanted. Now we go evaluate and reattack and we get better on Monday.
 
"Go Griffs. Go Bills."
 
Game Notes
• Canisius improved to 9-1-1 this season when scoring first.
• The Griffs also improved to 6-1-0 this season when leading after two periods.
• The 15 shots on goal for Canisius matched a season-low in that category for the Griffs, equaling their shot total at Air Force on Dec. 3.
• Canisius was 1-for-3 on the power play while the Crusaders were 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
• The Griffs picked up their first win of the season when tallying two goals or fewer. Canisius was 0-9-1 under such circumstances in 2021-22 heading into Saturday's contest.
• Melaragni recorded multiple assists in a game for the first time in his career as he recorded helpers on both Canisius goals on Saturday.
• Lapid's third-period goal was his third power-play goal of the season and the 10th of his career. He also recorded the third game-winning goal of his career with the strike.
• Martan recorded his team-leading 15th save of the season he drew the primary helper on Lapid's third-period goal.
• Barczewski recorded 40 or more saves for the third time this season as he surpassed his previous personal best of 42 saves, set last week at Army.  
• Barczewski is the first Canisius goaltender to record 10 or more wins in a season since Daniel Urbani in 2017-18. He is also the first Atlantic Hockey netminder to record double-digit wins this year.
Up Next
Canisius begins a five-game homestand next weekend when it hosts Bentley in a two-game Atlantic Hockey Association series. Both games of the Jan. 21-22 series at LECOM Harborcenter  are scheduled for 7 p.m. puck drops.
 
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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