Freshman Billy Irish-Baker scored two goals and junior Todd Bowler added three assists as Canisius defeated American International College 6-3 to complete a season sweep of the Yellow Jackets Saturday night at the Buffalo State Ice Arena. The Golden Griffins have won four straight and improve to 9-13-8 overall, 9-9-4 in Atlantic Hockey. American International falls to 4-23-3 overall, 3-16-3 in the league.
Canisius opened the scoring 4:14 into the first period as Irish-Baker beat AIC goaltender Chad Davis high on the stick side off a rebound. Bowler and freshman Joey Coccimiglio assisted on the goal.
The Yellow Jackets responded 25 seconds later as John Levesque deflected a Ron Miller shot into the back of the net. AIC would add a second first-period goal with 6:41 remaining as Jeff Valdes beat freshman goaltender Max Buetow low on the stick side, to give the Yellow Jackets a 2-1 advantage.
The Griffs evened the score at 2-2 with 28 seconds left in the first period as senior Rob Martin beat Davis low on the stick side for his ninth goal of the season. Freshman Michael Cohen and junior Josh Zavitz assisted on the goal.
The Yellow Jackets took the lead early in the second period as Ron Miller took a nice pass from Andy Walbert to beat Buetow high on the glove side 1:29 into the period. Canisius responded with 5:25 left in the second period on Irish-Baker’s 12th goal of the season. Irish-Baker deflected a shot by senior Joe D’Urzo low to the stick side to make the score 3-3 after 40 minutes of play.
The Griffs took the lead for good 1:27 into the third period as senior Kyle Bostic beat Davis high on the glove side off a rebound for his third goal of the season. Junior Justin Carre and Bowler assisted on the goal. Senior Daryl Pierce added to the Griffs’ lead 7:06 into the third period as he went five-hole from the top of the slot for his first goal of the season. Bowler assisted on the goal for his 13th helper of the year. Cohen finished off the scoring with 6:22 left in the game as he bounced the puck off the Davis’ back with virtually no angle. Martin assisted on the goal, his tenth of the year.
Canisius had 56 shots on the night, including 27 in the third period. The Yellow Jackets had 19 shots on goal. Davis had 50 saves on the night and Buetow recorded 16 saves in his second career win for the Griffs.
