Canisius (8-11-1, 7-5-1 AHA) vs. Bentley (11-8-2, 9-3-2 AHA)
Dates: Saturday, January 18 / Sunday, January 19
Times: 12:05 p.m. / 12:05 p.m.
Location: Buffalo, N.Y.  |  Buffalo State Sports Arena
TV/Webcast: America One Network
Live Audio: GoGriffs.com
DI Series History: Canisius leads, 23-21-3

The Canisius hockey team continues Atlantic Hockey play this weekend with a pair of home games against Bentley. The Griffs host the Falcons at the Buffalo State Sports Arena on Saturday and Sunday at 12:05 p.m.

SCOUTING THE GRIFFS
• Canisius (8-11-1, 7-5-1 AHA) split a pair of one-goal games last weekend against Sacred Heart.
• Kyle Gibbons leads the Griffs with 19 points and nine goals this season, while Ralph Cuddemi is second with 14 points (7g, 7a).
• Senior Tony Capobianco (3.33 gaa, .902 sv pct.) and junior Keegan Asmundson (2.35 gaa, .935 sv pct.) have split time in goal this year.

THE MOST DANGEROUS LEAD IN HOCKEY
• It is often said that a two-goal advantage is the most dangerous lead in hockey and the Griffs helped prove that last weekend.
• In the weekend split with Sacred Heart, both teams won after trailing by two goals in the game.
• Unfortunately, it has been a theme for the Griffs this season.
• The Griffs have now lost three games this season when up by at least two tallies – a first for the program since the 2004-05 season.
• Overall, Canisius has lost a two-goal lead in five of the last 32 games after going 98-straight games without losing a two-goal advantage.

GRIFFS RALLY FOR VICTORY
• It’s not all doom-and-gloom for Canisius concerning two-goal rallies.
• Canisius came back from a 4-2 third-period deficit against Sacred Heart on Saturday and earned a 5-4 victory.
• It marked the first time that the Griffs won a game when down by two scores in the final period since a 4-3 win against Sacred Heart on Jan. 22, 2012.

GIBBONS LISTED ON HOBEY BAKER BALLOT
• Senior Kyle Gibbons is listed on the initial Hobey Baker ballot.
• Fans can vote for who they believe deserves the award as the nation’s top player by visiting hobeybaker.comand clicking the Vote for Hobey link.
• Voting closes on March 9 and the list will be narrowed down to 10 semifinalists on March 20.
• Gibbons leads the Griffs with 19 points and nine goals this season.

CANISIUS – BENTLEY SERIES HISTORY
• In a series that dates back to 1981, Canisius holds a slight advantage in the series, 24-22-3, including a 23-21-3 mark in Division I meetings.
• The schools have split the season series in each the last four seasons with each team claiming six victories during that span.
• Last season, the schools split four meetings with each team winning twice on its home ice. The Falcons took all four points during the regular season with 3-2 (overtime) and 7-2 victories in Waltham. Canisius then responded with a sweep in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals with 4-0 and 2-1 wins in Buffalo.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• Bentley enters the weekend second in Atlantic Hockey with a 9-3-2 conference mark. The Falcons are 11-8-2 overall this season.
• The team is coming off a home sweep against RIT last weekend, earning 8-2 and 4-1 victories.
• The Falcons feature four players with at least 20 points this season, led by Brett Gensler (14g, 15a) and Alex Grieve (16g, 13a) with 29 points each. Defender Steve Weinstein (1g, 26a) and Andrew Gladiuk (13g, 9a) have also chipped in over 20 points.
• Branden Komm has started all 21 games in goal for the Falcons this season, posting a 2.42 goals against average and .927 save percentage.

BUFFALO, NY—Freshman Nick Berst (Depew, NY/Lancaster) netted the game winner just 2:04 into the third period to lift Buffalo State (6-7-3) to a 5-4 win over visiting Elmira (6-6) in a non-conference game tonight at the Ice Arena.

Dan Turgeon (Centennial, CO/Cherokee Trail) led the Bengals with two goals and two assists. Taylor Pryce (Newmarket, ON/Cardinal Carter) also had four points with a goal and three helpers. Sean Hrivnak (Laval, QC/College Laval) tallied his first collegiate goal, while Mike Zannella (Ithaca, NY/Ithaca) and Ryan Salkeld (Suffolk, VA/Churchland) each picked up a pair of assists.

The Soaring Eagles started the scoring at 2:06 of the first period, but Pryce evened things just eight seconds later with his second goal of the season. Elmira would again take the lead later in the period with a power-player marker, but the Bengals answered again when Hrivnak scored with just two ticks left in the period.

Buffalo State held the lead twice in the second period, behind a pair of Turgeon goals, but Elmira answered back both times and the teams took a 4-4 tie into the final intermission before Berst found the back of the net early in the third to close out all scoring.

Elmira held a 39-38 advantage in shots and was 2 for 6 with the extra skater, while Buffalo State finished 1 for 7. Kevin Carr (Unionville, ON/Unionville) had 35 saves in the win, including two crucial stops in the final 10 seconds to preserve the win.

Buffalo State will return to the ice on Tuesday as the Bengals host Nazareth at 7 p.m.

The Hobart College hockey team scored two goals in the first two minutes of the game and went on to defeat Nichols College 4-1 in a non-league contest tonight in the Bisons’ Levy Rink.

The Statesmen improve to 5-4-4 overall, picking up their third straight victory. Sophomore Ben Gamache (Longlac, Ontario) led the Hobart effort with a goal and an assist. Sophomore Lino Chimienti (Montreal, Quebec) finished with 23 saves in goal. Nichols falls to 8-3-2 overall.

Just 58 seconds into the game, senior Tommy Fiorentino (New Hartford, N.Y.) fired home a rebound to put the Statesmen up 1-0. It was Fiorentino’s third goal this year. Junior Tommaso Traversa (Torino, Italy) and first-year Jon Neal (Encinitas, Calif.) earned the assists. Just 49 seconds later, first-year Carl Belizario (Dorval, Quebec) made it 2-0 with his third goal this season. Junior Brad McBride (Lone Tree, Colo.) and sophomore Bo Webster (Aurora, Ontario) were credited with the assists.

Joe Sposit put the Bison on the board with 4:50 left in the opening period with a power-play goal. His backhanded shot came after passes from Mike Weaver and Josh DeLoach.

Hobart continued to pour it on in the second period. Just 1:12 in, Gamache capitalized on a feed from sophomore Mac Olson (Grosse Pointe, Mich.). Gamache’s third goal this season stretched the Statesmen lead to 3-1. At 12:36 in the middle period, first-year Bobby Sokol (Belle Vernon, Pa.) sent home a rebound from a shot by Gamache on a power play to give Hobart a 4-1 advantage. Junior Bronson Kovacs (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) also notched an assist on the play. It was Sokol’s second tally this year.

The Statesmen finished with a 44-24 advantage in shots. Hobart went 1-for-9 on the power play, and the Bison finished 1-for-8. Alex Larson finished with 40 saves in all 60 minutes in goal for Nichols.

The landscape for the Potsdam men’s hockey team had begun to change in recent weeks.

Winners in five of its past six games, the Bears had strung together much more consistent efforts behind some timely goals, more hustle, and sound goaltending by senior Shane Talarico(Greensburg, Pa. / Elmira College).

Talarico was coming off an impressive week in which he stopped 60 shots, and was named as the SUNYAC’s Goalie of the week, in picking up a pair of wins against Saint Anselm’s.

But, on Friday night, an energetic Castleton State team applied pressure from the onset and skated to a three-goal lead after the first intermission before winning 6-2 over Potsdam in a nonconference affair at Maxcy Arena.

Will Laking was able to score from the slot, Ryan Frost went high to beat Talarico and Kyle Pichler added a short-handed goal on a breakaway to take the 3-0 lead after one period of play.

The Bears (5-8) responded on a short-handed goal by sophomore forward Todd Thomas (Davidsville, Pa. / Hartford Wolfpack) about midway through the second period. Thomas took a pass from sophomore Matt Thompson (Anchorage, Alaska / Kenai River Brown Bears) to take advantage of the odd man rush.

That’s as close as Potsdam would get, however, as the Spartans (8-6) racked up three more goals in the period on scores by Derek Gingera, Colin Murray and Nick Kovalchik.
Murray’s goal forced Talarico out of the game after 34:22 of action. He made 14 saves.

Sophomore Austin Keiser (Dunwoody, Ga. / Boston Bulldogs) replaced him and saved 10 of 11 shots to finish out the game.

Senior captain Mike Arnold scored his 10^th goal of the season on an assist from senior defenseman Kevin Carpenter (Denver, Colo. / Notre Dame Hounds) for the game’s only goal in the third period.