By: Connor Pohlman
Canisius hockey started off their series against RIT with a hard-fought victory last Friday. Senior forward Ryan Miotto scored with 20 seconds remaining in overtime to lift the Golden Griffins to a 2-1 win.
Senior David Melaragni accounted for the lone goal in regulation for the Golden Griffins (5-9-2, 3-4-2 AHA). Senior goaltender Jacob Barczewski picked up his fourth win of the season as he recorded 35 saves.
Kobe Walker tallied the lone goal for the Tigers (11-4-0, 9-2-0 AHA). Tommy Scarfone finished with 18 saves between the pipes for the home team.
In the final seconds of 3-on-3 overtime, senior forward Keaton Mastrodonato carried the puck into the RIT zone and maintained possession, drawing the Tigers defense to him on the right side before sliding a pass over to Miotto, who one-timed the puck past the blocker of Scarfone to give the Griffs the win.
After a scoreless first, the teams traded power-play goals during the second period. Melaragni staked Canisius to a 1-0 lead in the 4:45 mark of the frame as he fired home a loose puck from the right face-off circle during a 5-on-3 opportunity.
Walker tied the game with 15:46 elapsed in the period, sneaking a wrist shot under the glove of Barczewski from just off the right post to knot the score at 1-1.
Neither team was able to get on the board during the third period, setting the stage for Miotto's overtime heroics.
The Griffins would try and carry their momentum into the weekend when they played on Saturday at LECOM Harborcenter.
RIT would score seven unanswered goals to erase a 2-0 deficit and cruise to a 10-4 victory over Canisius.
Cody Laskosky recorded a hat trick while Kobe Walker recorded two goals and added two assists for a four-point night to pace the Tigers (12-4-0, 10-2-0 AHA) high-scoring attack.
Senior Simon Gravel, freshman Stefano Bottini and juniors Max Kouznetsov and Randy Hernandez scored for the Golden Griffins.
Canisius took an early 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Gravel and Bottini, but RIT was able to cut the deficit in half before the end of the first period on a Gianfranco Cassaro's eighth goal of the season.
The Tigers took the lead in the second as Laskosky scored twice early in the frame to put RIT in front before Carter Wilke added a power-play goal to make it a 4-2 contest after 40 minutes.
RIT continued to dominate in the third, taking advantage of a lengthy 5-on-3 major power play with three goals in the opening 2:09 minutes of the frame to make it a 7-2 contest.
Kouznetsov and Hernandez registered power-play goals midway through the period to pull the Griffs within two, but RIT used a trio of tallies late to determine the final margin.
Canisius closes out the non-conference portion of its 2022-23 schedule Dec. 10 with a road game at Hockey East foe Maine. Start time for the matchup between the Griffs and Black Bears is set for 2 p.m. at Alfond Arena in Orono, Maine.
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