BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Sacred Heart men's hockey team outshot the Canisius Golden Griffins 15-10 in the final two periods at HARBORCENTER Friday night, but couldn't overcome a two-goal deficit as Canisius won game one of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament quarterfinal series 2-0.

Canisius (17-11-7) nearly got on the scoreboard 18 seconds in when Matthew Grazen fired a shot wide on a 2-on-1 breakout. The Golden Griffins dominated play in the Sacred Heart zone in the first period, as shots by Nolan Sheeran and Ralph Cuddemi were stopped by Sacred Heart goaltender Alex Vazzano (Trumbull, Conn.). The Pioneers had a chance to get on the board with 12:06 left in the opening period, going on a 5-on-3 power play after penalties by Chris Rumble and Jack Stander 56 seconds apart. Connor Doherty (Holden, Mass.) and Zach Luczyk (Charlton, Mass.) each had shots on goal during the power play, but couldn't get one past Canisius goalie Keegan Asmundson.

The Golden Griffins broke the scoreless tie with 5:02 remaining in the first period. Jeff Murray fed Stander for a one-timer from behind the net to make the score 1-0. Cuddemi put Canisius ahead 2-0 with 0:45 left in the period, sneaking the puck between Vazzano's legs and in the goal. Canisius outshot Sacred Heart 8-4 in the first period. The Pioneers outshot Canisius 4-3 in the second period as both defenses reigned supreme in the middle frame. Sacred Heart's best chance to score in the second came with 6:54 to play when a deflection by Drew George (Regina, Sask.) was kicked away by Asmundson. With 4:40 to play, Vazzano made a sprawling save to deny Doug Beck of Canisius' third goal.

Sacred Heart (13-18-6) opened the third period on the power play, but shots by Mitch Nylen (Lawrenceville, Ga.) and Justin Danforth (Oshawa, Ont.) were saved by Asmundson. The Pioneers also had two chances to score shorthanded when Luczyk was called for a penalty at the 17:45 mark. Sacred Heart went back on the power play with 14:25 remaining when Grazen was called for hooking. Once again, the Pioneers had two shots on goal but couldn't get one past Asmundson. The Pioneers outshot the Golden Griffins 11-7 in the third period but Asmundson was stalwart in goal with the shutout.

Asmundson stopped all 19 Sacred Heart shots for the clean sheet. Vazzano made 16 saves for the Pioneers. Sacred Heart was 0-for-5 on the power play, while killing all four Canisius power plays.

Game two of the best-of-3 quarterfinal series is Saturday night at 7:35 p.m.