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Canisius goaltender Ben Bonisteel is hugged by his teammates after the Griffs 6-2 victory at Niagara on Feb. 22, 2025
Lindy Feider
6
Winner Canisius CAN 11-21-2, 11-13-2
2
Niagara NIA 17-14-3, 15-9-2
Winner
Canisius CAN
11-21-2, 11-13-2
6
Final
2
Niagara NIA
17-14-3, 15-9-2
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Canisius CAN 1 1 4 6
Niagara NIA 1 0 1 2

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Third Period Outburst Sparks Hockey to Victory at Niagara

Canisius scored four goals in the third period to break a 2-2 tie and defeat Niagara, 6-2, in Atlantic Hockey America action Saturday at Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, N.Y.
 
Junior Grant Porter tallied a goal and added two assists for the Golden Griffins (11-21-2, 11-13-2 AHA), who secured the No. 6 seed for the upcoming AHA Postseason with the victory. Senior Alton McDermott finished with a goal and an assist while graduate students Alec Cicero, Jackson Decker and Cole Kodsi and junior Oliver Tarr accounted for the other four Canisius goals.
 
Freshman Ben Bonisteel got the start between the pipes and made 26 saves to earn his second victory of the season.
 
Noah Hackett and Spencer Young scored for the the Purple Eagles (17-14-3, 15-9-2 AHA). Pierce Charleson finished with 33 saves in goal for the home team.
 
With the game tied at 2-2 after Young scored on a shorthanded breakaway less than a minute into the third period, Cicero restored the Griffs lead on the same power play when his shot from the left sidewall deflected off a Niagara defender and into the Purple Eagles goal. Canisius struck twice just 39 seconds apart later in the frame to stretch its lead to three. Kodsi began the sequence at the 8:54 mark when he beat Charlson on the rush with a shot to the blocker side before McDermott notched his seventh tally of the season with a rebound goal on the following shift. Porter closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal at the 14:08 mark of the third. Earlier in the contest, Decker staked Canisius to a 1-0 lead at the 12:20 mark of the first period, depositing Porter's cross-ice feed into a vacant Niagara cage for his first goal of the campaign. Hackett brought Niagara level with seven seconds to play in the opening frame, beating Bonisteel with a wrist shot to the blocker side while on the rush to knot the score at 1-1.
 
Tarr restored the Griffs lead with 8:41 elapsed in the middle frame, sneaking a wrist shot past the left shoulder from the right face-off circle to make it a 2-1 contest. POSTGAME COMMENTS GAME NOTES
• Canisius outshot Niagara by a 39-28 margin for the contest, highlighted by a 16-8 advantage in the third.
• The Griffs converted on the only power play opportunity of the contest as there were a total of three minor penalties called in the game.
• Canisius matched its season high for goals with its six-goal performance on Saturday. All three of their six-goal performances  
• Canisius remained undefeated this season when scoring four-or-more goals in a game (10-0-0) and when carrying a lead into the third period (10-0-1).
• Cicero's power-play goal was his third of the season and the 10th of his career. He also notched the fourth game-winning goal of his career with his third-period tally on Saturday.
• Porter established career highs with his two assists and three points on Saturday. He also tallied multiple points in a game for the second time this season.
• McDermott finished with multiple points in a game for the second time this season and the fifth time in his career with his two-point performance.
• Graduate student Kyle Haskins extended his point-scoring streak to four games with an assist on Cicero's game-winning goal.
• Sophomore Matteo Giampa picked up his team-leading 22nd assist of the season with a helper on Tarr's second-period goal.  
 
UP NEXT
Canisius will be the No. 6 seed for the 2025 Atlantic Hockey Postseason.
 
The Griffs will host No. 11 seed Mercyhurst in a first-round contest March 1 at LECOM Harborcenter. Puck drop is slated for 5 p.m.
 
Tickets for the game are still available. They can be purchased by visiting the tickets page on GoGriffs.com, calling 716-888-TIXX or by visiting the ticket kiosk at LECOM Harborcenter on gameday.
 
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