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Canisius University Athletics

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Canisius forward Austin Alger skates with the puck as Bentley's Harrison Scott defends him during game action at LECOM Harborcenter on Jan. 21, 2022
Lindy Feider
7
Winner Bentley BEN 12-9-0, 10-5-0
4
Canisius CAN 11-10-3, 8-7-2
Winner
Bentley BEN
12-9-0, 10-5-0
7
Final
4
Canisius CAN
11-10-3, 8-7-2
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Bentley BEN 1 2 4 7
Canisius CAN 2 1 1 4

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Unable to Keep Pace Versus Bentley

Bentley scored four goals in the third period to break a 3-3 tie and record a 7-4 victory over Canisius in Atlantic Hockey Association action Friday at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
 
Drew Bavaro tallied two goals and added two assists to pace the Falcons (12-9-0, 10-5-0 AHA) while five players accounted for the other five Bentley Goals. Evan BeBrouwer made 19 saves between the pipes for the visitors.
 
Graduate student Austin Alger tallied two goals for the Golden Griffins (11-10-3, 8-7-2 AHA). Sophomore Max Kouznetsov and senior Lee Lapid accounted for the other two goals for Canisius.
 
Tied at 3-3 heading into the start of the final frame, Bavaro gave Bentley its first lead of the game just 2:33 into the third with an unassisted effort during 4-on-4 play before Cole Kodsi doubled the Falcons advantage less than two minutes later with a shorthanded goal to make it a 5-3 game.
 
Alger brought the Griffs back within one on his second of the contest, scoring on a goalmouth scramble with just under eight minutes to play to trim the deficit to 5-4.
 
Bavaro would restore the Falcons' two-goal cushion with a power-play goal with 4:13 remaining before Dylan Piter closed out the scoring with an empty net tally in the final seconds of play to determine the three-goal margin.
 
Earlier in the contest, the teams traded power-play goals a little more than two minutes apart midway through the first as Kouznetsov opened the scoring for Canisius while Matt Lombardozzi countered moments later for Bentley.
 
Lapid would put the Griffs back in front heading into the first intermission as he tallied his eighth goal of the season with just over a minute to play in the opening frame to make it a 2-1 game.
 
Ethan Harrison brought the Falcons level once again at the 3:34 mark of the second period with an even-strength goal to tie the game at 2-2.
 
The teams traded goals in quick succession late in the second period, with Alger scoring on a cross-ice feed from sophomore Simon Gravel at the 16:05 mark, only to see Ethan Roswell respond for Bentley on the following shift to tie the game at 3-3, setting the stage for the third period.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"I'm very disappointed in our effort tonight. It's a trend that needs to end. There have been way too many shots on net for our opponents lately. That's been something that we're working on remedying, but we're not getting it done. So, the staff has to do a better job to get our guys to play better defense. The players have to commit to that and have more effort to get it done. Although it was close until the third period, we didn't deserve anything tonight. Very disappointed in our discipline late in the game when we're down a goal, that will be remedied. If I'm trying to find the positive from tonight, it's that we get to play again tomorrow.
 
"You do everything. You analyze your game. You pay attention to messaging. You evaluate everything that you're doing. You evaluate every player on the team. When you have 24 hours to turn it around, you're not going to have a fix for everything. The message is we need to be better. You hold guys accountable and then you open the door. It's the end of January with a team that has been through a lot already this season. It's late in the year. It's their team. The plan is that they should be taking over. Now if they're not ready to do that, my job as head coach is to evaluate them and hold them accountable. The communication we had after the game was them saying the right things, but it's way too late for tonight's game. It needs to happen during the game and that'll be their test tomorrow.
 
"There was no turning point tonight. We didn't have it from the beginning. The score was irrelevant. We didn't have anything going our way other than Jacob Barczewski giving us a chance through two periods. I also liked the effort of Lee Lapid tonight. He tried hard. He was competing. He was skating. Other than that. Nothing."
 
Game Notes
• Friday's game served as the 75th meeting between Canisius and Bentley. The Griffs hold a slim 34-33-8 edge in the all-time series following Friday's setback.
• The game served as Canisius' first matchup versus Bentley at LECOM Harborcenter since Jan. 26, 2019.
• Bentley out-shot Canisius, 49-23, for the contest, highlighted by a 21-8 advantage in the second period.
• The Griffs were 1-for-4 with the power play while the Falcons were 2-for-7 with the man advantage.
• The seven goals against were a season-high for a Canisius opponent and the most since the Griffs surrendered seven goals in a 7-4 setback to RIT on Jan. 24, 2020.
• Canisius moved to 9-2-1 this season when scoring the first goal of the game. The Griffs have struck first in each of the last three contests.
• The Griffs slipped to 9-1-1 on the year when tallying four or more goals in a game.
• Alger tallied multiple goals in a game for the second time this season and the third in his career (Nov. 26 vs AIC)
• Lapid registered multiple points in a game for the fourth time this season and the 11th time in his career as he finished with a goal and an assist.
•Sophomore Jackson Decker dished out multiple assists for the second time this season as he finished with a pair of helpers.

Up Next
The teams complete their two-game series Saturday with a 7 p.m. contest 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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