CANISIUS COLLEGE ATHLETICS
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Junior Casey Jerry scored a shorthanded goal with 1:46 remaining in the third period to break a 2-2 tie and lift Canisius to a 3-2 victory over Sacred Heart in Atlantic Hockey Association action Saturday at KeyBank Rink at Harborcenter.
Jerry’s game-winning goal capped a comeback that saw the Golden Griffins (5-7-1, 4-6-1 AHA) score the final three goals of the game to erase an early 2-0 deficit and snap a four-game winless skid.
Senior Dylan McLaughlin and sophomore Grant Meyeralso scored for Canisius while junior goaltender Blake Weyrick made 27 saves to post his second victory of the season.
Jordan Kaplan and Marcel Godbout accounted for the two goals for the Pioneers (2-7-2, 2-5-1 AHA). Brett Magnus made 24 saves between the pipes for Sacred Heart.
Trailing 2-1 at the start of the third, McLaughlin tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play tally less than five minutes into frame, beating Magnus with a shot to the short side from the bottom of the left faceoff circle for his team-leading ninth goal of the campaign.
The score would remain deadlocked until the final two minutes of regulation. With the Griffs shorthanded, seniorIan Edmondson deflected a Sacred Heart pass in the Canisius zone that sent Jerry and senior Matt McLeod down the ice on a 2-on-1. McLeod’s initial attempt was stopped by Magnus, but Jerry was on the doorstep to jam home the rebound for the game-winning tally.
Earlier in the contest, Kaplan gave Sacred Heart a 1-0 lead at the 6:56 mark of the first period, redirecting a point shot from Max Luukko past Weyrick to give the Pioneers the early advantage.
Godbout doubled the Sacred Heart margin to 2-0 on a power-play tally with 2:11 to play in the opening frame, blasting a slap shot over the glove of Weyrick from the top of the right faceoff circle for his second of the campaign.
Meyer pulled Canisius within one before the end of the opening frame, batting a rebound out of mid-air and into the Sacred Heart cage with 19 seconds remaining to make it a 2-1 contest, setting the stage for the Griffs’ third-period comeback.
Head Coach Trevor Large‘s Postgame Comments
“It was a great effort by our guys tonight. There were a couple of moments we will not forget as a team. One of them was David Baskerville, without a stick on a penalty kill in the second period, had a huge effort to help kill off a 5-on-3. Another was Matt Stief, when looked like they had a tap-in goal late in the game, he had a huge defensive play and it allowed us to stay in the game. The penalty kill was great all night and it just so happened that it led to the game-winning goal with less than two minutes remaining in the third.
“You have to use every game, whether you win or lose, as a learning experience. We’re not focused on results. If we win the game, it’s a mentality of ‘okay, we got to learn from this.’ We tied the game last night, it’s the same thing. You have to learn from what’s happening with you as an individual and how you’re doing as a team. Our guys are going through that now. We’ve had a lot of learning experiences in the past two weeks. We’ve played a lot of games. I really liked the steps we’ve made in terms of effort and compete. We need to continue that from now on and keep learning.”
Game Notes
• Saturday’s contest served as the 61st meeting between Canisius and Sacred Heart. Canisius increased its lead in the all-time series to 30-23-8 with the one-goal victory.
• Both teams recorded power-play goals on Saturday as Canisius was 1-for-5 with the man advantage while Sacred Heart was 1-for-4.
• The Pioneers held a slim 29-27 shot advantage for the contest, highlighted by a 12-4 margin in the second period.
• Canisius improved to 4-5-1 this season when allowing the first goal of the contest with Saturday’s victory.
• The Griffs also moved to 2-0 in 2018-19 in one-goal games with Saturday’s triumph.
• McLaughlin’s third-period goal was the 48th of his career, moving him into a tie with Chris Duggans (1998-02) for sixth place on the program’s Division I era career goals chart.
• Jerry’s game-winning goal was the first of his career. He is also the fifth different Canisius player to record a game-winning goal this season.
• McLaughlin, Alger and junior Nick Hutchison all extended their respective point streaks to four games with points during Saturday’s matinee.
Up Next
• Canisius closes out the first half of the regular season Nov. 30-Dec. 1 with a two-game series at Atlantic Hockey foe Army.
• The series opener is slated for a 7 p.m. start while the finale is scheduled for a 5 p.m. puck drop.
