BUFFALO, NY – It was indeed an intriguing Saturday evening for Canisius junior center Ryan Schmelzer.
Depending on one’s point of view, he could be considered the hero or the goat for Canisius in the same game. A rare occurrence, indeed.
For a while, it looked like Schmelzer might turn out to be the savior for Canisius, scoring a huge goal midway through the third period to give the Griffs a 2-1 lead in what was an exceedingly tight hockey game.
But then events took a dramatic turn.
Just over four minutes later, Schmelzer collided with Robert Morris’ Daniel Levens and was assessed a five-minute major for contact to the head and an automatic game misconduct. The Colonials later scored on the 2-man advantage to salvage a 2-2 tie.
“It was a bit of a roller coaster of emotions there, but I have calmed down a little bit,” said Schmelzer, who has been a model of consistency for his club. “That is the way these games are. We got one point, we wanted two, but one is all right.”
The paramount moment came with the Griffs leading by a goal almost midway through the third period.
“It was a penalty kill, and a guy went to go “D” to “D,” said Schmelzer. “The guy fell over, and was on the ice. The puck was sitting there, I tried to poke the puck past him. I guess I caught his head there. The ref saw it as a head contact. I was trying to make a hockey play, but that is the way these games go.”
Th unfortunate penalty in Canisius’ fans eyes negated another strong performance from Schmelzer, who tied the game at one late in the second period and gave the Griffs the lead at 8:15 of the third.
“The first one was on the power play, we finally got a shot through and I just tipped it,” he said. “The second one, it was a set faceoff play. (Ian) Edmondson made a nice pass from the wall and I put it in.”
The two goals extended quite an admirable run for Schmelzer, who now has points in 17 of his last 21 games. He caught fire last season right before Christmas and has been rolling ever since.
“I am trying to play hard, and do my best every night,” said the East Amherst native.
Canisius coach Dave Smith had perhaps the ultimate compliment an athlete can receive regarding Schmelzer.
“Schmelzer has been our number-one center since the ninth game of his freshman year,” he said. “He makes other players better. He is a terrific skater. But we challenged him to pick up a little more separation in his game, and he has done that. We challenged him to work on his shot, he has done that.”
Since the Griffs are so collectively young this season, there are lessons the younger, less-experienced players can absorb, and Schmelzer provides them.
“The important lessons they learn for him is how hard he competes from Monday through Thursday,” Smith said. “He is a leader on our club because of how he prepares and works every day. They stuff we see on the weekends, that is icing on the cake because he does it every day.
“That’s what makes him a leader.”
Atlantic Hockey Results
No. 10 Boston College 6, Holy Cross 1
Casey Fitzgerald scored two goals while Graham McPhee and Zach Walker each had two assists as the Eagles cruised past the Crusaders. Joe Woll recorded 25 saves for the 10th-ranked Eagles.
RPI 6, RIT 3
Riley Bourbonnais had two goals and an assist as the Engineers downed the Tigers. After RPI scored two goals in 22 seconds early in the second period, Gabe Valenzuela and Erik Brown scored for the Tigers to knot the game at three.
Union 5, Niagara 2
Mike Vecchione scored four goals and had an assist to lead Union past the Purple Eagles. Sebastian Vidmar had a goal and three assists for the Dutchmen, who scored three goals in a span of just under seven minutes in the first period.
Bentley 6, Air Force 1
Max French scored a pair of goals as Bentley earned a 6-1 win in Colorado. Junior goalie Jayson Argue stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced.
