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Canisius University Athletics

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Members of the Canisius hockey team celebrate a goal during the Griffs' 4-2 victory over Air Force at LECOM Harborcenter on Feb. 4, 2022
2
Air Force AFA 10-13-2, 8-9-2
4
Winner Canisius CAN 13-10-3, 10-7-2
Air Force AFA
10-13-2, 8-9-2
2
Final
4
Canisius CAN
13-10-3, 10-7-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Air Force AFA 0 0 2 2
Canisius CAN 1 1 2 4

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Doubles Up Air Force in Opener, 4-2

Canisius used goals from four different players and a 29-save effort from junior goaltender Jacob Barczewski to post a 4-2 victory over Air Force in Atlantic Hockey Association action Friday at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
 
Sophomore Max Kouznetsov, senior Mitchell Martan, junior Simon Gravel and graduate student Alex Ambrosio scored for the Golden Griffins (13-10-3, 10-7-2 AHA).
 
Parker Brown and Clayton Cosentino accounted for the two goals for the visiting Falcons (10-13-2, 8-9-2 AHA). Alex Schilling got the start in goal for Air Force and made 18 saves before being replaced late in the game by Guy Blessing, who stopped all three shots he faced.
 
Kouznetsov opened the scoring just before the midway point of the first period with a power-play goal, beating Schilling with a wrist shot to the blocker side from the middle of the slot for his ninth goal of the season.
 
Martan doubled the Griffs advantage to 2-0 at the 15:04 mark of the second period, eluding an Air Force defender at the top of the zone before firing a wrist shot over the right pad of Schilling for his fifth goal of the season.
 
Gravel stretched the Canisius margin to 3-0 with 5:13 gone in the third period, collecting a pass from junior Lincoln Erne on the left side and beating Schilling with a shot between the legs for his second of the season.
 
Ambrosio increased the Griffs lead to 4-0 midway through the frame, tapping home junior Ryan Miotto's goalmouth feed for his sixth goal of the campaign.
 
Brown got the Falcons on the board with 12:22 elapsed in the third, converting a cross-ice feed from Luke Rowe during 4-on-4 play to make it a 4-1 contest.
 
Consentino trimmed the Air Force deficit even further a little more than four minutes after Brown's marker, converting during a rare 6-on-3 opportunity to make it a 4-2 game.
 
Despite having a man advantage for the remainder of regulation due to a major penalty taken by Canisius, the Falcons were unable to get any closer, allowing the Griffs to record the two-goal triumph.
 
Head Coach Trevor Large's Postgame Comments
"I loved our game for 54 minutes. The other six are inexcusable. We are not learning our lesson, so I'm going to make sure that we learn our lesson. It's my job as head coach to hold our guys accountable to our standard for 60 minutes. They did not do that tonight. Other than those six minutes, (Jacob) Barczewski was unbelievable. We played hard; we played our system. The guys executed the game plan. I really liked how we played tonight for those first 54 minutes.
 
"You're in a game where you're up 4-0 on an opponent and it feels like you're putting them away and then we give them a six-minute power play. All of a sudden, they go from three shots in a period to 11 and it requires guys to go out and have to fight and scratch and claw in a game that we had. It was done. It required our goalie to give extra effort. It's inexcusable. There were two plays from two individuals on our team that was their fault. They made undisciplined plays that cost our team. It did not cost us a win tonight, but it's still a heavy cost and my role as head coach is to make sure that we learn. We have not learned from that. It's been multiple games this year and it will be remedied.
 
"We talked in the first intermission about blocking shots. It's something that our team has been extremely committed to all season. In the first period, there was too many pucks getting around the net and it wasn't from a lack of opportunity for blocks. It was just a lack of commitment and doing it properly. So, we talked about that in the intermission and then our guys put it on display in the second period. We had four blocks, but they were big blocks in big moments. Some guys really sold out in a time where that's their opportunity to show how much they care to their teammates. Daniel DiGrande set that tone early, he had an unbelievable block in the second period that our guys fed off. That was what we talked about in the intermission and they went out and made the necessary corrections."
 
Game Notes
• Friday's game served as the 54th meeting between Canisius and Air Force. The Griffs improved to 8-10-5 on home ice against the Falcons as they stretched their current unbeaten streak against Air Force at LECOM Harborcenter to four games (3-0-1).
• Air Force held a 31-25 shot advantage in the contest, highlighted by a 14-7 edge in the first period.
• The Griffs were 1-for-3 on the power play while the Falcons were 1-of-6 with the man advantage.
• Canisius improved to 11-2-1 this season when scoring the first goal of the game.
• The Griffs moved to 8-1-0 in 2021-22 when leading after 40 minutes and 10-1-1 when scoring four or more goals in a game.
• Graduate student Austin Alger tallied two assists, his fifth multiple-point performance of the season and the second multiple-assist effort of the campaign. Alger also extended his current point-scoring streak to four games with his two-point effort on Friday.
• Gravel notched his first game-winning goal of the season and the second of his career with this third-period goal on Friday (Feb. 9, 2021 at Mercyhurst).
• All four of Martan's goals this season have come on home ice.
 
Up Next
The teams complete their weekend 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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