Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
7-18-2, 7-14-2AHC
Canisius
12-10-7, 11-6-6AHC
Reuschlein, Gahagen Key in Win Over Canisius
February 13, 2015 | Hockey
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Sophomore C.J. Reuschlein roofed a backhand in the third period to break a 1-1 tie and classmate Parker Gahagen shut the door for a 2-1 win over Canisius on Friday night at the HarborCenter.
Army (7-18-4, 7-14-2 AHA) saw Reuschlein tally his seventh of the season, while Tyler Pham recorded his fourth multi-goal game to lead the Black Knights. Pham had helpers on both of Army’s tallies, while Conor Andrle added an assist as well. Buffalo native, Parker Gahagen, got the start in net and pushed aside 23 shots with 10 coming in the third period. He shut the door late in the game with four saves in the final minutes.
“This goes down as a great team win,” head coach Brian Riley said. “Everyone contributed and we always tell the team that if we can win the third period, we are going to win a lot of games and that is what it came down to tonight. We were able to do a lot of the little things and I am really proud of how the guys played tonight.”
Canisius (12-10-7, 11-6-6 AHA) was led by Shane Conacher, who added his eight of the year in the second period with assists to Cody Freeman and Tyler Wiseman. Keegan Asmundson earned the start and made 20 save in the loss.
The first period ended scoreless, but Army had a couple of great chances on the power play. The best chance came on a Reuschlein wrist shot from the slot that Asmundson stopped, but couldn’t control the rebound. Andrle was there and couldn’t slip the puck underneath the big netminder. There was no advantage in shots as each team had eight shots.
The Golden Griffins took the first lead of the game on a power play goal at the 16:28 mark of the middle frame. Conacher collected a loose puck on the right side and beat Gahagen with the wrist shot. The puck deflected off of Gahagen on the penalty kill and Conacher got the puck in the neutral zone, skated to the right circle and beat Gahagen for his eight of the year.
Army answered 10 seconds later with Preston scoring his first collegiate goal off an offensive zone faceoff. Pham won the puck back to Preston. He skated to the left and let a laser go that beat Asmundson to the low glove side. Pham got the helper for his 15th of the year and 23rd point. The Black Knights played one of their best period of the season with a 13-7 shot advantage.
The top line of Reuschlein, Andrle and Pham created multiple chances by cycling the puck, but couldn’t solve Asmundson. Andrle had a great chance off a Reuschlein shot that Asmundson stopped, but left the rebound. Andrle tried to get wood on it and ended up crashing into the net with the netminder, with the puck somehow staying out of the net.
The power play came through for the Black Knights with 11:26 remaining in the game to take a 2-1 advantage. Reuschlein skated to the front of the net and went bar down with a backhander. He rang it off the iron and in for the gamewinner. Pham was credited with his second assist of the night, while Andrle got on the scoresheet with his 11th of the season.
The top line was all over the ice for most of the game and it paid off in the end.
“The first line was the best line out there tonight,” said Riley. “They had the puck a lot out there. When that line plays like that, they can be as good as any line in this league.”
Down the stretch of the final frame, Gahagen came up with four huge stops. The first two came in traffic as the Griffs had multiple chances on the doorstep, but the netminder stood tall and covered the puck on the second chance. The same action happened quickly after and he came up big again to give the Black Knights their second-straight win over Canisius.
“Parker was very calm and in control all night long,” Riley said. “When they started to have the push towards the end, he was rock solid. It was neat for him to come home and have a game like he did.”
Army narrowly outshot the Griffs by a 26-25 margin. Both teams scored on the power play as Army was 1-for-3 and the home team tallied one goal on two chances.
Same two teams tomorrow night at the HarborCenter, beginning at 7:35 p.m. and the game is on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel around New York.
Game Notes: Tonight’s game was the 48th meeting between Army and Canisius since 1992 … Army knotted the series at 22-22-4 with the win tonight ... first game in the series at the HarborCenter … the teams have split the last three series, including earlier this year with the Black Knights getting a 3-0 shutout on home ice on Oct. 18 … Gahagen held Canisius scoreless for four-plus periods, dating back to his shutout against Canisius on Oct. 18 … He has now allowed only one goal in the last two games against the Griffins … Preston became the seventh rookie to score this season and the Class of 2018 has 25 tallies this year.
