The Canisius College hockey team opens the 2016-17 season with a pair of games at defending national champion North Dakota. This marks the first time the Golden Griffins have opened the season against the defending national champions since 1999-00 when the Blue and Gold started the year against Maine.
Canisius went 12-22-5 last season and tied for sixth in the Atlantic Hockey Conference standings with a 10-13-5 league mark. The Griffs saw their 2015-16 season come to an end March 12 when the team lost to Air Force 2-0 (4-1, 4-1) in the best-of-three playoff series. Junior Ryan Schmelzer is the team’s top returning scorer from a season ago. He recorded 32 points on the power of 10 goals and 22 assists. Sophomore Simon Hofley is the only Canisius netminder returning from last season, posting a 2.71 goals against average and .920 save percentage in 27 games last season.
The Griffs began the 2016-17 season with an exhibition game versus Guelph on Sunday, falling 6-2. Junior Ryan Schmelzer and junior Mike Sabatini scored Canisius’ goals in the loss, with both markers coming in the game’s third period. Freshman netminder Daniel Urbani took the loss in net after allowing five second-period goals. Canisius outshot the Gryphons, 39-21, in the loss.
This weekend’s series will mark the sixth and seventh all-time meetings between these two programs in a series that began on Oct. 2, 2002. The Griffs are making their second trip to North Dakota, where the Blue and Gold is 0-4-0. Canisius’ last trip to Grand Forks, N.D. came during the 2004-05 season, when the Fighting Hawks defeated Canisius twice by scores of 5-1 and 4-1. Canisius and North Dakota have played one neutral site game, which came during the 2002-03 season. North Dakota won that game, which was played at HSBC arena, by a score of 8-0.
from GoGriffs.com via IFTTT
