University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Canisius
Men's Hockey Downs Canisius In Overtime 4-3
2/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 26, 2009
STORRS, Conn. (February 21, 2009) - In a reversal of their fortune on Friday night, the University of Connecticut men's hockey team defeated Canisius in overtime Saturday thanks to a goal by senior Sean Erickson (Eden Prairie, Minn.) 43 seconds into the period. After blocking a shot by David Cianfrini, Erickson took off with the puck down the ice and flicked a shot over the left shoulder of the Canisius netminder Andrew Loewen for the victory. Erickson was a part of three of UConn's four goals on the night recording two assists and the game-winning goal, his first of the season.
Though the Huskies came out firing it was Canisius that got on the board first when they took advantage of two interference penalties and five-on-three play. But before the end of the first the Huskies would tie the game up thanks to a great individual effort by junior Chris Ochoa (Santa Monica, Calif.) who tricked Loewen and scored his team-leading 16th goal of the season. Ochoa was helped out by freshman Marcello Ranallo (Burnaby, B.C.) who recorded his 16th assist of the season which puts him in a tie for fifth among all UConn freshman for points recorded during his rookie season (21) and third among UConn rookie assist leaders (16).
Canisius went up before the end of the second period with a late goal by Jason Weeks that just trickled through junior Beau Erickson's (Hinton, Iowa) legs and into the net. But late in the third, UConn would tie the game back up when Andrew Olson got his 12th goal of the season at 15:57 on a rebound shot. Freshman Bobby Reiners (Grosse Ile, Mich.) got his first assist of the season on the goal and sophomore Jason Krispel (Cypress, Calif.) recorded his team-leading 25th.
Rookie Dan Naurato (Northville, Mich.) put the Huskies ahead when he recorded a goal less than a minute later, but the lead wouldn't last as Weeks took advantage of a power play situation and tied the game back up at three and sent it to overtime. Unlike Friday night's game, the game-winner wasn't recorded on the first shot of the period, but it was recorded on the Huskies' first shot of overtime by Sean Erickson.
The Huskies will finish up their regular season next weekend in a home-and-home series with Bentley. In the Friday night match, UConn will recognize their seniors in a pregame ceremony prior to the 7:05 start.
