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Canisius University Athletics

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Canisius centerman Ryan Miotto prepares for a faceoff against Mercyhurst forward Geoff Kitt in game action at the Mercyhurst Ice Center in Erie, Pa., on Feb. 26, 2022
Lindy Feider
1
Canisius CAN 16-14-3, 13-11-2
3
Winner Mercyhurst MER 12-18-4, 10-12-4
Canisius CAN
16-14-3, 13-11-2
1
Final
3
Mercyhurst MER
12-18-4, 10-12-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Canisius CAN 0 1 0 1
Mercyhurst MER 1 1 1 3

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Finishes Regular Season with Loss at Mercyhurst

Kyle McClellan stopped 22-of-23 shots he faced to lead Mercyhurst to a 3-1 victory over Canisius in Atlantic Hockey Association action Saturday at the Mercyhurst Ice Center in Erie, Pa.
 
Marko Reifenberger, Rylee St. Onge and Dante Sheriff accounted for the three goals for the Lakers (12-18-4, 10-12-4 AHA), who completed a sweep of Canisius with Saturday's victory.
 
Sophomore Max Kouznetsov scored the lone goal for the Golden Griffins (16-14-3, 13-11-2 AHA) with a power-play tally in the second period. Junior goaltender Jacob Barczewski finished with 26 saves between the pipes.
 
Reifenberger opened the scoring at the 16:29 mark of the first period, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush by depositing Jonathan Bendorf's feed into the back of the Canisius goal for his sixth goal of the season.
 
Kouznetsov tied the game at 1-1 early in the second period, putting a pass from graduate student Austin Alger over the glove of McClellan from the right face-off circle for his team-leading 12th goal of the campaign.
 
St. Onge restored the Lakers advantage with a little more than three minutes to play in the middle frame, sneaking a rebound under the leg of Barczewski from the slot to make it a 2-1 contest.
 
Sheriff closed out the scoring just 67 seconds into the third, capitalizing on a breakaway opportunity to increase the Mercyhurst advantage to two.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"Tonight was another hard-fought hockey game. It was a definitely an even game. I really
liked our power-play goal. Obviously, we have to score more. It's hard to win with one goal. Five-on-five we need to be better. But tonight, was a really good hockey game in preparation of the playoffs coming. We can shut the door on the regular season. Everybody kind of starts over. So not the results we wanted this weekend, but overall, it was a good regular season and we're excited about the playoffs.
 
"It's a balance. It's about recovery, but also staying in attack mode. It's healing anything we have going on injury-wise. But for every individual, it's about finding your playoff game; working on your game. Get better. Working on skills. Working on team concepts so that we can be prepared in two weeks when the playoffs start for us against whomever we play. It's the most exciting time of year. I know our guys are not excited right now, but they are fired up to have a long playoff run. That's now the focus. I know everybody that's a Canisius hockey player, staff member or fan is excited for the playoffs."
 
Game Notes
• Mercyhurst out-shot Canisius, 29-24, for the contest, highlighted by a 12-8 edge in the second period.
• Canisius was 1-for-2 on the power play while Mercyhurst was 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
• Kouznetsov's second-period goal broke a four-way tie for the team lead in goals.
• Alger recorded double-digit assists for the third time in his four seasons at Canisius as his primary helper on Kouznetsov's goal was his 10th helper of the campaign.
• Canisius was held to one goal or fewer in back-to-back games to just the second time this season (Jan. 8 at Army; Jan. 14 at Holy Cross).
• The Griffs moved 2-13-1 in 2021-22 when scoring two goals or fewer.
 
Up Next
Canisius will be the No. 2 seed for the 2022 Atlantic Hockey Association Tournament. The Griffs will host the second-lowest remaining seed from the first round in a best-of-three quarterfinal-round series at LECOM Harborcenter March 11-13. Game times and ticket information will be announced at a later date.
 
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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