The Canisius College hockey team begins the 2015-16 campaign with a home game against Big Ten foe Penn State at HARBORCENTER. The schools open the season on Saturday at 7:35 p.m.
SCOUTING THE GRIFFS
• Canisius went 18-12-7 record last season and placed second in the AHC standings (15-7-6 record) – matching the program’s best finish.
• The Griffs advanced to Atlantic Hockey Championship weekend for the third-straight season, falling, 2-1, to RIT in the semifinals.
• Senior Ralph Cuddemi returns after leading the team in points (32) and goals (22). His 22 tallies were one shy of the school record.
• Sophomore Reilly Turner is the only Canisius netminder with collegiate experience, posting a 2.54 goals against average and .915 save percentage in 13 games last season.
EXHIBITION RECAP
• The Griffs began the 2015-16 season with an exhibition game versus Ontario Institute of Technology on Sunday, falling 4-2.
• Senior Ralph Cuddemi and freshman Josh Supryka each netted goals for Canisius.
• Sophomore Reilly Turner took the loss in net, stopping 10-of-14 shots, while freshman Simon Hofley stopped all four shots.
• Canisius outshot the Ridgebacks, 38-18, in the loss.
CANISIUS IN SEASON OPENERS
• The Griffs are set to begin their 36th season of play and their 18th year at the Division I level on Saturday.
• Canisius is 11-20-4 all-time in season openers and 5-10-2 at the Division I level, including a 4-6-0 mark with Dave Smith as head coach.
• The Griffs are unbeaten (4-0-1) in their last five home openers.
• Last season, the Griffs ended a three-game losing streak in openers with a 4-2 home victory against Western Michigan.
HOME SWEET HOME
• The Griffs are beginning their second season at HARBORCENTER on Saturday – a $172 million facility in downtown Buffalo.
• Canisius finished its inaugural year 9-4-5 at HARBORCENTER, including an 8-1-2 mark in its last 11 home games.
CANISIUS – PENN STATE SERIES HISTORY
• The schools are meeting for the first time as Division I programs.
• Canisius did play Penn State eight times from 1981 to 1995 when the Griffs were a Division III program and the Nittany Lions were a club team with Canisius winning six of the eight meetings.
GRIFFS VERSUS BIG TEN TEAMS
• In its third year of a hockey conference, Canisius has played three of the six teams in the Big Ten.
• Canisius remains in search of its first victory against a Big Ten school, going 0-6-1 all-time against conference teams. The Griffs are 0-1-0 against Minnesota, 0-3-1 versus Ohio State and 0-2-0 against Wisconsin.
• The lone result for Canisius against a Big Ten school was a 3-3 draw versus Ohio State in the HARBORCENTER opener last season.
ABOUT THE NITTANY LIONS
• Penn State is coming off an 18-15-4 season, falling in the Big Ten Quarterfinals to Ohio State.
• The team averaged 3.22 goals per game last year, while allowing 3.05 tallies per game.
• The Nittany Lions lost two of their top three scorers from a season ago, returning David Goodwin, who totaled 34 points, 15 goals and 19 assists last year.
• The team also returns two goalies who saw action during the 2014-15 campaign in Matthew Skoff (2.81 gaa / .907 save pct.) and Eamon McAdam (3.13 gaa / .910 save pct.).
