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Canisius forward Matteo Giampa celebrates after scoring a goal during the Griffs' 5-3 victory at Air Force on Jan. 27, 2024
2023 Paat Kelly/PengoSports
5
Winner Canisius CAN 9-15-3, 8-8-3
3
Air Force AF 14-13-1, 11-6-1
Winner
Canisius CAN
9-15-3, 8-8-3
5
Final
3
Air Force AF
14-13-1, 11-6-1
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 F
Canisius CAN 3 1 1 5
Air Force AF 2 0 1 3

Game Recap: Ice Hockey |

Hockey Earns Series Split with Saturday Victory at Air Force

Senior Randy Hernandez and freshman Matteo Giampa scored goal and an assist each to pace Canisius in a 5-3 victory at Air Force in Atlantic Hockey Association action Saturday at Cadet Ice Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo.
 
Senior Jackson Decker, sophomore Stefano Bottini and freshman Trey Funk also scored for the Golden Griffins (9-15-3, 8-8-3 AHA), who earned a split of the weekend series with Saturday's triumph. Freshman goaltender Ethan Robertson made his third straight start between the pipes for Canisius and made 26 saves to earn his fifth victory of the season.
 
Sam Brennan, Will Gavin and Andrew DeCarlo recorded the three Falcons' (14-13-1, 11-6-1 AHA) goals scored on Saturday as they saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. Guy Blessing turned aside 26 shots in goal for Air Force.
 
In an action-packed first that saw the two sides combine for five goals, Decker opened the scoring at the 6:26 mark when he fired a slap shot from the left point that beat Blessing inside the right post for his sixth of the campaign. After Decker's tally, the teams proceeded to record four goals over a nearly six-minute span during the later stages of the opening frame.
 
Giampa began the sequence with 13:29 elapsed in the first, beating Blessing on the rush with a wrist shot inside the left post from the middle of the slot for his team-leading 16th goal of the season to give the Griffs a 2-0 lead. The Falcons answered back a little more than a minute later, as Brennan put home a loose puck to make it a 2-1 contest.
 
Gavin knotted the score at 2-2 just 2:39 after Brennan's strike with a power-play goal, one-timing a feed from Luke Rowe past Robertson from the right face-off circle for his league-leading 17th goal of the season.
 
Funk closed out the first-period barrage in the final minute of the first, slamming home a loose puck from just in front of the Falcons goal to give Canisius a 3-2 edge. Hernandez restored the Griffs two-goal advantage with 4:20 elapsed in the second period, beating Blessing with a wrap-around effort to put Canisius up by a pair, 4-2.
  DeCarlo made it a one-goal game with just under four minutes to play in regulation as he put home his own rebound to pull the Falcons within one, 4-3.
 
Bottini closed out the scoring in the final minute of regulation, finding the empty Air Force goal for his second of the season to determine the two-goal margin of victory. POSTGAME COMMENTS FROM HEAD COACH TREVOR LARGE
"A much better effort from the group tonight. I am extremely proud of the fact that when our culture is challenged, our guys respond. We have leaders that understand how we want to play; we have experience that we can rely on and hopefully we're going to use this effort tonight as an example of how we want to play. We got the win, but even if we had lost the game, the effort was exactly where it needs to be in regards to all the fundamentals of the game of hockey and what it means to be aggressive. Hopefully tonight's game will help us understand how we want to play.
 
"There are couple moments that I do remember in the third period when we did have control of the game. Air Force was able to win a battle and they're good, so they got it to the net and they were able to get a goal and then right off the bat on the next face off it's a bit of a fluky bounce, but all of a sudden, they get a breakaway. I was really proud to E-Rob (Ethan Robertson). He stood his ground all night and that was a huge save there as momentum could have been heavily in their favor. After that, we went back to work and they didn't get a ton of chances. Empty-net goals are my favorite because that means you're probably winning the game. (Stefano) Bottini was able to get the empty-netter and he earned that all night, so we were able to put the game away and then really lock it down even after that. I know coaches say this a lot, but this was an absolute team win from every guy wearing Blue and Gold and we need to remember what kind of effort is required to win in this league."

GAME NOTES
• Canisius held a 31-29 shot advantage for the evening, highlighted by a 14-8 edge during the first period.
• Air Force was 1-for-4 on the power play while Canisius was 0-for-5 with the man advantage on Saturday.
• Canisius scored four-or-more goals in a game for the seventh time this season with its five-goal performance and improved to 6-1-0 this season when doing so.
• Canisius carried a lead into the third period for the seventh time this season and remained undefeated when doing so (5-0-2).
• Giampa tallied multiple points in a game for the ninth time this season as he finished with a goal and an assist on Saturday.
• Hernandez notched multiple points in game for the fifth time this season as he registered a goal and an assist on Saturday.
• Junior Matt Vermaeten tallied multiple assists in a game for the first time in his career as he earned helpers on Decker and Funk's first-period goals.
• Decker notched his sixth goal of the season with his first-period tally, giving him twice as many goals as any other Canisius defenseman in 2023-24.
 
UP NEXT
Canisius opens a three-game homestand Feb. 6 when it hosts Battle of the Bridge rival Niagara. Puck drop for the third and final matchup of the regular season between the Griffs and Purple Eagles is slated for 6 p.m. at LECOM Harborcenter.
 
Tickets for the game are still available. They can be purchased by calling the Canisius Ticket Office at 716-888-TIXX, visiting the tickets page at GoGriffs.com or at the ticket kiosk at the LECOM Harborcenter on gameday.
 
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