Canisius 4, Mercyhurst 0

Courtesy of Canisius Athletic Communications

The Canisius College hockey team returned home for the first time in nearly a month and gave 1,168 fans something to be excited about. The Griffs defeated the Mercyhurst Lakers, 4-0, Friday night at the Buffalo State Sports Arena.

"I thought we had good energy and good focus," said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. "We stayed with our game plan and execution by our players made it 4-0 Mercyhurst played hard and is an excellent skating team. We had a timely power-play goal and an excellent third period."

Sophomore Andrew Loewen (Winnipeg, Manitoba) recorded 34 saves, including 17 in the third period, to earn his first collegiate shutout. He is the first Griff to post a shutout since Dan Giffin on Feb. 24, 2006.

Sophomore Josh Heidinger (Buffalo, N.Y.) led the Canisius offense with a goal and an assist, while sophomore Carl Hudson (Smooth Rock Falls, Ontario), senior David Kasch (Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario) and sophomore Jason Weeks (Seattle, Wash.) each added a goal. Freshman Vincent Scarsella (Lackawanna, N.Y.) paced the Griffs' offense with two assists.

Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the first period but the Griffs (3-9-2, 3-5-1 Atlantic Hockey) struck early in the second. Scarsella found an open Hudson, who drilled in a shot on the power play just 49 seconds into the period. It was Hudson's fourth goal of the season and his third on the extra-man advantage. Heidinger also posted an assist on the score.

The Griffs would tally another early goal in the third stanza, scoring just 55 seconds into the period. Mercyhurst would turn the puck over it its own zone and Kasch would take advantage. The senior was able to get the Lakers' goalie on the ice and then knocked the puck in with a back-handed shot for his fifth score of the season. Freshman Matt Zuke (St. Louis, Missouri) tallied the assist for his first collegiate point.

Heidinger would add his seventh goal of the season 3:22 into the third. Canisius nailed the Mercyhurst puck handler and then sophomore Brandon Cummings (Kindersley, Saskatchewan) skated down the ice and found an open Heidinger, who made a nice move to score the goal. Scarsella also posted an assist on the goal.

The Griffs scored their final goal at the 10:26 mark in the third. Freshman Pat Kenney (Amherst, N.Y.) centered the puck toward the goal and Weeks fired a one-timer in for his second goal of the season. Freshman Derek Danowski (Detroit, Mich.) also registered an assist on the goal.

Mercyhurst (2-11-2, 2-5-2 Atlantic Hockey) held a slight 34-32 advantage in shots. Both teams had four opportunities on the power play, with Canisius converting once and killing all of the Lakers' one-man advantages.