Lundy's pair not enough as Ice Hockey falls at Canisius

BUFFALO, New York - Canisius University's Matteo Giampa scored in the first and the last minute of play to lead the Golden Griffins past the American International College ice hockey team in Atlantic Hockey Association play on Friday, December 15.

AIC falls to 10-8-0 overall and 7-4-0-0-1-0 in the AHA.

Giampa took advantage of a turnover and broke in on goal, scoring just 0:28 into the contest. The Yellow Jackets settled in after that, keeping the Golden Griffins off the scoreboard in the first.

In the second, AIC tied it on a hard-working goal scored on the Balise Toyota Power Play. Dustin Manz won a battle behind the net and fed the puck in front to Alexander Malinowski, whose shot was saved, but the rebound bounced right to John Lundy at the right post, and he tapped in his seventh of the season at 13:30. Canisius challenged the play for offsides, but the goal was upheld upon review.

In the third, AIC took its first lead of the game. Alfred Lindberg advanced the puck into the attacking end for Oscar Geschwind, who was tied up by the Canisius defense in the right-wing corner, but managed to get the puck into the slot, where it bounced fortuitously to Lundy. He whipped the puck into the left corner of the net for his eighth of the year at 9:27.

The advantage was short-lived; on the next shift, the Golden Griffins kept the puck at the point, and Erik Urbank's shot was deflected in by Killian Kiecker-Olson just 49 seconds after Lundy's tally.

Both teams drew penalties in the final 10 minutes, to no avail. The game seemed destined for overtime, but the Golden Griffins found a late goal as Giampa came loose in the slot again and scored his AHA-leading 12th of the year at 19:36, which proved to be the winning strike.

Alexandros Aslanidis made 21 saves in the setback.

The two teams finish the two-game set on Saturday, December 16 at 5:05 p.m.