COLLEGE HOCKEY
Canisius, Niagara seek step forward
For Canisius, the early season has been about finding offensive chemistry, building on skills and getting in a good position early on in the Atlantic Hockey standings.
For Niagara, it’s been a struggle to get good results against an aggressive schedule with the upperclassmen just getting into their groove.
For both teams, the annual grudge match on ice is an important nonconference game that can help develop a season, making it deeper than mere bragging rights.
The teams meet at 7 tonight in Dwyer Arena.
The Golden Griffins are 3-2-2 overall and 2-1-1 in Atlantic Hockey after sweeping American International two weekends ago. Their offense is staggered among four lines with their second line recently catching fire.
Freshman Dave Kostuch earned national Rookie of the Month honors for October with four goals in his first month of collegiate hockey. His 0.71 goals-per-game average is 12th in the nation and tops among freshmen.
He is paired with junior Josh Heidinger, who leads the team with 11 points, and junior Jason Weeks, who has nine assists on the season.
“We’re off to a good start,” Heidinger said. “We’ve got good chemistry on our line. Kostuch is just really skilled offensively. You know that you’re going to pick up assists when he’s on the ice because you know he’s going to score.”
And while the offensive depth is a key component of winning, so too is the attitude that keeps the Griffs from getting too carried away with the emotion of a game.
“We have excellent leadership and really consistent effort that has kept us on an even keel,” Canisius coach Dave Smith said.
Niagara is 3-5-1 after struggling a bit with an aggressive nonconference schedule that included trips to Michigan and Maine but a win over RIT on Friday has helped start the Purple Eagles off on a new segment of the season.
“We’re not where we thought we’d be,” Niagara coach Dave Burkholder said. “I think we thought that if we put on the jersey things would happen. We weren’t getting results. . . . But overall we played well. Close isn’t good enough anymore, but we were playing well.”
“We broke the season up into four eight-game segments,” senior captain Vince Rocco said. “The first eight was a tough schedule, but right now, we started a new segment with RIT and we’re 1-0. That’s how we’re looking at it.”
Most importantly for the Purple Eagles was the revival of their power play and the scoring touch of their upperclassmen.
The 6-2 win marked the most goals Niagara had scored in a game this season and finally marked a break through for players who were largely absent from the score sheet through the first eight games.
Included in the breakout was Buffalo native Chris Moran, who had two goals and an assist, and Rocco picked up three assists. David Ross added two goals and an assist.
Just as important, Niagara’s special teams came to life as the power play went 4 for 8 and solid shot blocking and goaltending from senior Juliano Pagliero anchored a penalty-killing unit that held RIT to 1 for 12 on its chances.
“We were told early in the year that [the officials] were going to really clamp down on clutching, grabbing and hooking,” Rocco said. “Obviously, that means you have to have a good power play and penalty kill. Our power play for sure started to come around and we’ve been tweaking things on our penalty kill all week.”
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