Lake Superior State’s Steve McJannett snared a Canisius giveaway in the Griffs’ defensive zone and scored the game-winner at the 3:27 mark of overtime to give the visiting Lakers a 3-2 victory Saturday night in non-conference action at the Buffalo State Sports Arena. The Griffs fall to 0-2-2 overall, while Lake Superior State is now 1-0-1.
McJannett took an errant pass from Canisius sophomore defenseman Tim Songin and skated in alone on freshman goalie Max Buetow and beat the Griffs’ netminder for his first goal of the season after the Lakers knotted the game in the final minute of regulation for the second consecutive night.
Canisius opened a 2-0 lead after the first period of play to take control early. Freshman Joey Coccimiglio scored just 6:01 into the game to give the Griffs the early 1-0 advantage. Coccimiglio took a lead pass from sophomore Jon Durno and ripped a shot from the left point for his second goal of the season. The Griffs doubled their lead with 6:25 remaining in the opening period as freshman Michael Cohen scored his team-high third goal of the season off a rebound on a shot by junior Ryan Corcoran.
Lake Superior began to chip at the Canisius lead with a goal at the 16:57 mark of the second period on a goal by Nathan Ward that beat Buetow high on the glove side. For the second straight game, Canisius could not hold a one-goal lead in the final minute of regulation as Lake Superior pulled their goalie in favor of the extra attacker and Trent Campbell scored with 44 seconds remaining to knot the game at 2-2. Campbell put a loose puck away past Buetow from the slot for his first of the season and McJannett converted in the overtime period for the win.
Buetow posted 27 saves in the loss, his collegiate debut for the Griffs. Lake Superior’s Matt Violin made 19 saves for his first win of the year.
