Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
1-2-0, 1-2-0AHA
Canisius
2-1-1, 1-0-0AHA
Hockey Drops Conference Game to Canisius
October 17, 2014 | Hockey
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WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army hockey team stormed out to a three-goal lead, but couldn't stop Canisius in the end as the Golden Griffins scored five unanswered goals to skate past the Black Knights by a 6-4 score.
Army (1-2-0, 1-2-0 AHA) saw four different players net goals and Conor Andrle recorded two assists in the loss. Cole Bruns earned the start in net and made 17 saves.
Canisius (2-1-0, 1-0-0 AHA) got a hat trick from Ralph Cuddemi and three points from Nolan Sheeran with a goal and two assists. Keenan Asmundson pushed aside 16 shots in the 32 minutes of action, before being relieved by Reilly Turner. The new netminder made 15 saves and earned the win in relief.
"We had a great first period, but it's a 60 minute game," said head coach Brian Riley. "We had good opportunities with the power plays and gave up the shorthanded goals. We created good opportunities in the third, but didn't cash in on them."
The Black Knights came out on fire with three goals in the first period and two quick tallies in the first four minutes. Joe Llaurado got the scoring started 3:17 into the first period with a breakaway goal for his first collegiate goal. A clearing pass from the defensive zone was picked up by Llaurado and he beat Asmundson for the early lead. Army's second goal was a snipe from the slot by Joe Kolzak. Andrle took the puck away from the Golden Griffin defender behind the net and found Kozlak and the senior hit the net for his first of the season. The Black Knights kept up the pressure with Brendan McGuire netting his first career goal with 9:16 left in the opening period. Maurice Alvarez charged the net and the puck squirted out to McGuire, who was following on the play and he beat Asmundson to make it 3-0.
Canisius got on the board with a shorthanded tally from Shane Conacher in the second period. He came down the right side and beat Bruns to make it 3-1. Army answered 42 seconds later with Tyler Pham going top shelf on Asmundson to give Army its three-goal advantage back with 9:08 left in the second. The Golden Griffins came back and finished off the second period with two power play goals. Both scores came from Cuddemi with assists to Cody Freeman and Sheeran. The two power play tallies made it a one-goal game again.
The Golden Griffins kept the momentum into the third period with three goals to complete the comeback for a 6-4 win. Matthew Grazen scored his third of the season to tie it at 4-4. It was the second shorthanded goal of the night and came with 12:58 left in the game. Sheeran then earned his third point of the game with his first of the year coming two minutes later to give the Griffs the lead for good. Cuddemi closed out the scoring with an empty-netter in the final seconds to get the hat trick.
Army outshot Canisius by a 35-23 advantage. The Golden Griffins finished with two power plays and two shorthanded goals on special teams. Army was 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
The teams are back at Tate Rink tomorrow night for a 7:05 p.m. face-off.
Game Notes: Cole Bruns got his first collegiate start for Army ... Joe Llaurdao and Brendan McGuire joined Tyler Pham as rookie goal scorers ... Pham and Conor Andrle lead the team in points with three through the first three games ... 12 skaters on the Black Knights have points this season ... Army has outshot its opponent in two of the first four games.
