Army Black Knights Hockey Suffers OT Defeat

WEST POINT – Army West Point Hockey (7-12-3, 6-7-1 AHA) suffered a 5-4 overtime defeat against Canisius (6-12-2, 4-6-2 AHA) on Saturday night, salvaging a point after trailing 4-1 in the third period. In the final 3:10 of regulation, Michael Sacco and Joey Baez provided the goals for the Black Knights to force the extra frame.

Army struck first for the second time in as many days, with Ricky Lyle lighting the lamp less than ten seconds after an Army power-play had expired 11:28 into the contest. Lyle cleaned up a rebound off a shot from Thomas Farrell to score his third goal of the series.

Canisius took a pair of penalties later on in the period but were able to escape with a 1-0 deficit despite a 5-on-3 opportunity for Army.

The Black Knights began the second frame on the PK following a penalty after the whistle in the first. Canisius quickly took advantage, with Randy Hernandez tying the score with a power-play tally. The period went from bad to worse for the Black Knights, eventually falling behind 3-1 less than midway through after even strength tallies from Max

Kouznetsov and Erik Urbank. Despite outshooting Canisius 13-10 in the period, Army lost the period 4-0 and trailed by three goals heading into the third.

Beginning with 4:33 on a five-minute power-play, Army took advantage with a tally from Thomas Farrell after Lucas Kanta threaded a pass from the blueline to the Army captain.

The goal came with 18:10 left to play, giving Army plenty of time to mount the comeback.

After dominating the period, the chance seemed lost when Army took a penalty with 7:05 remaining, but Army responded with a kill and continued to put pressure on Jacob Barczewski in the Canisius net.

Army found itself on a four-on-two break with just over three minutes left, with Brett Abdelnour feeding Michael Sacco, who was able to get just enough on the puck to get it past Barczewski to make it a 4-3 game. After pulling Gavin Abric in net following a timeout from the Black Knights, Army was able to maintain possession in the Golden Griffins end, leading to a faceoff with 70 seconds remaining after Lyle came close to tying the score. Off the faceoff and a failed clearance from Canisius, Joey Baez was able to collect the loose puck and fire a shot from close range into the roof of the net to complete the improbable comeback for Army and force overtime. Army outshot Canisius 18-4 in the across the final twenty minutes.

Army had its opportunities in the extra period after going on the power-play 1:49 in. Off a feed from Max Itagaki, Lyle was inches away from getting a stick to the puck right in front of the Canisius goal. After the Black Knights took a penalty of their own in overtime for interference with the goaltender, Canisius took advantage of the four-on-three advantage.

Nick Bowman was able to score the game-winner with 26 seconds remaining, firing a wrist shot past Abric off the feed from Jackson Decker. Army tied its season-high of 46 shots on target while claiming eight of twelve points from the Golden Griffins this season.