Army Holds Off Canisius for Series-Opening Win

Friday, November 30

West Point, NY

7:05 PM

Army West Point

8-7-1, 7-5-1AHA

Canisius

5-8-1, 4-7-1AHA

Canisius

Army

Army Holds Off Canisius for Series-Opening Win

November 30, 2018 | Hockey

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Army West Point hockey team topped Canisius Friday night in a high scoring affair.

The Black Knights took a 5-3 lead late in the third period and held off a late comeback by the Golden Griffins to preserve the 5-4 win.

Head Coach Brian Riley recorded his 100th win at Tate Rink with tonight's victory.

For the second game in a row, Zach Evancho recorded three points, with a goal and two helpers tonight.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Golden Griffins started the game off with a score two and a half minutes in.
Army responded quickly at the 16:05 mark when Evancho fired a shot from on top of the left circle and Daniel Haider got his stick on it for the score.
After killing off a penalty, Jared Dempsey pushed aside a shot as Dominic Franco picked it up and skated up the boards.
He took a shot at the right circle and beat Blake Weyrick for the goal with 2:22 remaining in the opening frame.
The Griffs bounced back in the second to score seven minutes in on the man advantage to make it 2-2.
Army countered with a power play goal of its own when perfect passing by Alex Wilkinson and Evancho connected with MacAfee.
MacAfee sniped a shot from the top of the circle, threading the needle to score top shelf on Weyrick's glove side.
Canisius scored the final goal of the period to knot the score at 3-3 with 2:07 to play in the second.
The Black Knights scored two-straight goals in the third period to secure the victory.
Evancho scored from the left point working the puck through heavy traffic to the top right corner.
Mason Krueger garnered the game-winner when he stole the puck from the Griffs in the center of the ice. He walked into the offensive zone and scored on an empty net, putting the Black Knights ahead 5-3 with 2:33 to go.
With an extra skater on the ice, Canisius made it a one-goal game.
The Black Knights fought off the comeback to secure the 5-4 win.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

Riley earned his 100th win on home ice tonight.
For the second game in a row, Evancho posted three points to lead the Black Knights.
The junior scored one goal and added two assists.
Evancho now owns 16 power play goals in his career and five this season.
He has tallied eight helpers in 2018-19 so far and 23 total in his career.
This is his 11th multi-point game and second with three points.
He has registered at least two assists on three occasions.
Dempsey made 20 saves in net tonight and tallied his first-career assist.
It was the first helper registered by a goaltender since Cole Bruns versus Air Force in November of 2017.
MacAfee posted two points for the second consecutive contest.
The senior captain scored an even strength goal for the Black Knights and added an assist on Evancho's tally.
He leads the team with an impressive 17 points and 54 in his career.
Tonight was MacAfee's 12th multi-point performance and seventh in 2018-19 alone, the most by any Black Knight.
Wilkinson was another with multiple points tonight.
The junior defender posted a pair of helpers increasing his season total to 14 assists.
He also has 12 career multi-point games.
Krueger netted his second game-winning goal of the year as Army's last goal of the night.
The sophomore has three goals this season and seven points.
Franco continued his hot streak and scored his ninth of the year.
He now totals 12 points this season and 64 overall.
Haider notched his second-career goal as Army's first of the game.
Bilek was another rookie on the scoresheet, as he picked up an assist.
The Black Knights went 2-for-5 on the power play tonight, while holding Canisius to 1-for-5.

UP NEXT

The Black Knights will be back in action at Tate Rink tomorrow night against the Griffs. Saturday's will be a matinee at 4 p.m. There will be a teddy bear toss during the first intermission and the team will play the Long Island Rough Riders in the annual sled hockey game after the contest.