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Canisius forward Walter Zacher celebrates after scoring his third goal in the Griffs 5-3 victory over RIT Friday LECOM Harborcenter on Jan. 16, 2026
Lindy Feider
3
RIT RIT 13-10-0, 9-6-0
5
Winner Canisius CAN 10-9-2, 5-6-2
RIT RIT
13-10-0, 9-6-0
3
Final
5
Canisius CAN
10-9-2, 5-6-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
RIT RIT 1 1 1 3
Canisius CAN 0 3 2 5

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Zacher’s Hat Trick Sparks Hockey Past RIT

Junior forward Walter Zacher recorded his second career hat trick to pace Canisius to a 5-3 victory over RIT in Atlantic Hockey America action Friday at LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo.
 
Junior Rhys Chiddenton and freshman Carter Anderson also scored the Golden Griffins (10-9-2, 5-6-2 AHA). Sophomore Petter Wickström Stumer stopped 36 shots to earn his third victory of the season.
 
Caleb Elfering, Christian Catalano and William Moore accounted for the three goals for the Tigers (13-10-0, 9-6-0 AHA). Jakub Krbecek finished with 13 saves.
 
Elfering opened the scoring with a power play goal just 1:14 into the contest when he deposited Zach Wigle's centering feed into the Canisius goal for his fifth goal of the season.
 
Zacher tied the game on the power play at the 4:45 mark of the second period, knocking home a rebound from the middle of the slot to tie the game at 1-1. Catalano restored the Tigers lead just past the midway point of the middle frame, beating Wickström Stumer while on the rush to give RIT a 2-1 lead.
 
Anderson brought the Griffs level with less than four minutes to play in the middle frame when he lifted a loose puck past Krbecek to make it a 2-2 contest. Zacher gave Canisius its first lead of the game in the final minute of the second, beating Krbecek to the glove side while on the rush to put the Griffs in front, 3-2. Zacher completed his hat trick less than two minutes into the third, sneaking a wrist shot past the left shoulder of Krbecek from just off the goal line to expand the Canisius cushion to 4-2. Moore brought RIT within one with 4:27 elapsed in the third, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush with a wrist shot pasting a sprawling Wickström Stumer to
 
Chiddenton put the game out of reach as he notched an empty-net goal with less than 90 seconds remaining to determine the two-goal margin of victory.
 
POSTGAME COMMENTS
  GAME NOTES
• RIT outshot Canisius by a 39-18 margin for the contest, highlighted by a combined 29-8 advantage in the first and third periods.
• Canisius was 1-for-5 on the power play while RIT was 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
• The Griffs improved to 78-12-3 under head coach Trevor Large and 7-0-0 this season when scoring four-or-more goals in a game.
• Canisius also improved to 91-9-4 under Large and 7-2-0 in 2025-26 when carrying a lead into the third period.
• Zacher recorded the 22nd hat trick in the Division I era of the program and the first since Daniel DiGrande netted three goals in a 5-3 win against Ferris State on Oct. 14, 2022.
• Senior Grant Porter posted multiple assists in a game for the third time this season as he recorded assists on each of Zacher's first two goals.
• Chiddenton notched goals in consecutive games for the second time this season as he recorded his second empty-net goal of the season against the Tigers.
• Senior Oliver Tarr recorded an assist for the second straight contest as he picked up the secondary assist on Anderson's second-period tally.  
 
UP NEXT
The teams complete their home-and-home series Saturday with a 7 p.m. contest at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester.
 
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