Prior to Thursday night, the Canisius College men’s hockey team had lost eight consecutive matchups against defending Atlantic Hockey champ RIT.  No Golden Griffin on the current roster had tasted victory versus the archrival Tigers—the program Canisius had faced most often in its Division I existence.

No more!  The Griffs earned their first win of the 2011-12 campaign with a 3-1 victory against visiting RIT.  The win, which marked the first for the Griffs against the Tigers since the 2007-08 season, improved Canisius’ record to 1-2-0 on the season and 1-0-0 in Atlantic Hockey play, while Los Tigres dropped to 1-1-1 and 0-1-1 against league foes.

“The confidence that we gained from a hard-fought victory against a very good RIT team is critical for the development of our young players,” said Canisius head coach Dave Smith. “Our seniors led with passion and that filtered down to the rest of the team, which was huge for us in earning this victory.”

The Pride of Tonawanda—senior Scott Moser—and junior Preston Shupe and sophomore Kyle Gibbons (Westlake, Ohio) all scored for the Griffs in the win.

Senior Dan Morrison recorded 33 saves to earn the win.

“It’s an awesome feeling right now,” Moser said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our young team, being able to bounce back from last weekend. This win is especially big for Dan and myself. This game means a lot to us having fought four years in the league and getting our first win against RIT. Preston Shupe was also a great captain for us tonight, fighting through to help lead us the victory.”

The Tigers struck first in the contest, netting their only goal of the game 4:19 into the game. Nolan Descoteaux redirected a pass from Chris Haltigin past Morrison on the power play for the early 1-0 advantage.

Canisius responded and evened the contest at one when Shupe tallied his first goal of the season 1:22 into the second frame. While on a power play, Gibbons centered the puck to the junior and Shupe one-timed a shot from the low slot to square the game. Sophomore Ryan Bohrer also recorded an assist on the game-tying score.

The teams remained tied for more than the next 33 minutes before the Griffs finally claimed their first lead of the game. Moser chipped the puck off the boards and to sophomore Taylor Law as the two entered the RIT zone on a 2-on-1 rush. Law then gave the puck back to Moser and the senior captain found the top right of the netting for the 2-1 advantage. Derby’s Own Patrick Sullivan also posted an assist on the eventual game-winning score.

Canisius now hits the road to face defending postseason champion Air Force. The Griffs and Falcons are set to battle on Saturday, October 29 with the puck set to drop at 9:05 p.m. ET.