BUFFALO – Canisius renews acquaintances with rival Niagara Tuesday in a 7:35 p.m. puck drop at KeyBank Rink in HARBORCENTER.
Tuesday’s matchup, part of the Battle of the Bridge series, serves as the first of four regular season meetings between the Griffs and the Purple Eagles. The two teams square off next Tuesday at Dwyer Arena before playing a second home-and-home series in mid-February.
Unbeaten its last four contests, Canisius (10-10-5, 9-4-4 AHC) finds itself tied with Robert Morris for third place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 22 points. Junior Ryan Schmelzer (7g, 8a) and sophomore Dylan McLaughlin (6g, 9a) are tied for the team lead in scoring with 15 points each. Both played a key role in Canisius’ sweep of RIT last weekend, with Schmelzer scoring both game-winning goals and McLaughlin dishing four assists during the home-and-home series. Freshman Nick Hutchison leads the team with nine goals. Hutchison posted his second multiple-goal game of the season with a two-goal effort during the Griffs’ 6-1 triumph over RIT on Saturday. Senior Charles Williams continues his torrid play between the pipes for the Griffs this season as he enters Tuesday’s contest leading the nation in save percentage (.944). Williams also ranks amongst the top ten netminders nationally in both goals against average (2.01/8th) and shutouts (3/T-5th) as well. Canisius has found its offensive groove of late as it is averaging 3.16 goals per game over its last six contests, compared to just 1.84 goals per game average during the Griffs’ first 19 games of the season.
For the first time since the 2012-13 season, Canisius swept its regular-season series against RIT by winning both ends of a home-and-home series against the Tigers last weekend. In the series opener, RIT took a 1-0 lead early in the first period, but the Griffs responded with three unanswered goals to record a 3-1 road victory at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester. Juniors Mike Sabatini and Ryan Schmelzer and sophomore Felix Chamberland all scored for the Griffs while sophomore Dylan McLaughlin dished out two assists. Senior Charles Williams made 45 saves between the pipes for Canisius, stopping the final 41 shots he faced from the Tigers. In the series finale, Canisius tallied three power-play goals to cruise to a 6-1 victory on Saturday at HARBORCENTER. Junior David Parrottino and freshman Nick Hutchison tallied two goals apiece to pace the Griffs attack. Sabatini and Schmelzer both scored for the second straight contest while Chamberland dished out a career-high three assists.
Scouting Niagara
• Niagara (3-18-3, 3-13-2 AHC) enters Tuesday’s matchup with Canisius looking to get back in the win column after dropping both games of its series against AIC at home last weekend.
• The Purple Eagles have been paced offensively by underclassmen this season as the top three point scorers are all freshmen or sophomores with rookie Kris Spriggs leading the attack with 12 points (6 g, 6a).
• Sophomore Johnny Curran leads Niagara with seven goals while freshman Derek Brown has dished out a team-high seven assists. Both players are tied for second on the team’s scoring chart with 11 points.
• Niagara has relied upon a three-goaltender system this season as Guillaume Therian, Jackson Teichroeb and Joe O’Brien have all played more than 400 minutes between the pipes. Teichroeb leads the Purple Eagles with a 4.20 goals against average while Therian holds a team-best .884 save percentage.
In a rivalry that began in 1997, Niagara holds a 21-15-4 advantage in the all-time series, including a 17-14-4 edge in Division I meetings. The Griffs hold the edge in recent contests with a 5-3-2 record against the Purple Eagles in their last 10 matchups. The Griffs’ five wins against the Purple Eagles in that span have all come since the start of the 2015-16 season. The two teams met a total of five times last season, all at HARBORCENTER. In their lone regular-season series, Canisius posted a 3-1 win and a 3-3 tie before the two teams met in the first round of the 2016 Atlantic Hockey Tournament in March. The Purple Eagles took game one of their best-of-three series, 3-2, before the Griffs battled back to win the final two games, 1-0 and 4-1, and the series.
Canisius takes to the road this weekend for a two-game series at Atlantic Hockey foe American International. Faceoff for both contests is set for 2:05 p.m. at the MassMutual Center.
from GoGriffs.com via IFTTT
