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Canisius University Athletics

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The Canisius hockey team celebrates after Austin Alger's game-winning goal in overtime versus Bentley at LECOM Harborcenter on Jan. 22, 2022
Lindy Feider
1
Bentley BEN 12-10-0, 10-6-0
2
Winner Canisius CAN 12-10-3, 9-7-2
Bentley BEN
12-10-0, 10-6-0
1
Final
2
Canisius CAN
12-10-3, 9-7-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 OT 1 F
Bentley BEN 0 0 1 0 1
Canisius CAN 0 1 0 1 2

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Alger’s Overtime Strike Lifts Canisius Past Bentley

Graduate student Austin Alger scored a power-play goal 1:54 into overtime to lift Canisius to a 2-1 victory over Bentley in Atlantic Hockey Association action Saturday at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
 
Senior Lee Lapid recorded the other goal for the Golden Griffins (12-10-3, 9-7-2 AHA). Junior Jacob Barczewski made 22 saves in goal for Canisius to earn his 11th victory of the season.
 
Cole Kodsi accounted for the lone Falcons (12-9-0, 10-5-0 AHA) tally. Nicholas Grabko made 20 saves between the pipes for the visitors.
 
Playing with the man advantage during the extra session after Bentley was assessed a major penalty during the final minute of regulation, Canisius was able to get the puck to the front of the net, where sophomore Max Kouznetsov's initial attempt was turned aside, but Alger was able to corral the rebound and place it over the glove of Grabko to give the Griffs the win.
 
Earlier in the contest, Lapid gave Canisius a 1-0 lead at the 3:21 mark of the second, firing the puck between the legs of Grabko from the left face-off circle for his ninth of the campaign.  
 
Bentley drew even just before the midway point of the third with a power-play goal as Cole Kodsi tapped home a rebound from just off the right post to knot the score at 1-1, setting the stage for Alger's overtime heroics.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"It took everything tonight in a really good hockey game. It's an effort thing. We talked about it before tonight's game; last night was not good enough. Tonight, our guys understood again that it requires all effort in all areas and it is hard. It's very hard to beat an opponent. Tonight, we at a minimum matched Bentley's effort. Obviously, a big goal from Austin Alger to win the game in overtime and a great effort from Jacob Barczewski again. He's our rock back there. It's a really quality win against a very good opponent.
 
"It was a completely different game in terms of where our focus was. We talked all day about not redefining our culture, but living up to our culture. Last night was not a Canisius hockey game. That is not the way a Griff plays the game of hockey. Tonight, our staff and players, we challenged ourselves to make sure that the hockey gods would take care of the scoreboard. It was about us living up to what our culture is. I was proud of how our guys responded to the challenge.
 
"Defense was a huge focus for us tonight. Obviously, you can look at shots on net to see how you're defending; 49 shots on net last night is inexcusable. We've had a few games in a row that have been like that. Part of that challenge to our team to live up to our culture was how we defend and not to give up anything, not allowing them to get to (Jacob) Barczewski at all. We did a much better job of that tonight. We still have some work to do. But defense is how you win. In our conference, with good teams up and down Atlantic Hockey, the team that's going to defend harder and have more belief is probably going to win the game.
 
Game Notes
• Canisius played its sixth overtime game of the season on Saturday. The Griffs moved to 2-1-3 in extra-session games in 2021-22.
• Bentley out-shot Canisius, 23-22, highlighted by a 10-4 advantage during the first period.
• Canisius was 1-for-4 with the man advantage while Bentley was 1-for-5.
• The Griffs moved to 10-2-1 this season when scoring the first goal of the game. Canisius also improved to 7-1-0 this season when leading after 40 minutes.
• Alger's overtime goal was his third game-winning goal of the season and the sixth of his career. He also tallied his league-leading sixth power-play goal of the campaign with his overtime marker.
• Alger now leads the team with 11 goals. He is also just one goal shy of matching his career high of 12, set during the 2018-19 season.
• Canisius picked up its second victory of the season when being held to two goals or less. The Griffs are unbeaten in their last three games when being held to two goals or fewer (2-0-1).
• Junior David Melaragni recorded an assist for the third straight contest as he tallied the secondary assist on Lapid's second-period goal.
• Lapid notched his ninth goal of the season as he extended his goal-scoring streak to three games.
 
Up Next
Canisius continues its five-game homestand Feb. 4-5 with an Atlantic Hockey Association series versus Air Force. Puck drop for both contests is scheduled 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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