BUFFALO, N.Y. – Despite a dominant offensive showing by the Sacred Heart men's hockey team at HARBORCENTER Saturday night, the Pioneers came up one goal short in a 2-1 loss to the Canisius Golden Griffins. Canisius swept the Atlantic Hockey Tournament quarterfinal series while being outshot 33-14 in game two.

Canisius (18-11-7) got on the board 1:22 into the hockey game. Logan Roe threw a pass from behind the Sacred Heart net to Cody Freeman, who let loose a wrist shot through traffic and past Alex Vazzano (Trumbull, Conn.) to give the Golden Griffins a 1-0 lead. The Pioneers killed a Canisius power play with 12:54 remaining, and had their first shot on goal at the 9:54 mark when Drew George (Regina, Sask.) uncorked a shot in the slot that was stopped by Keegan Asmundson. Brian Sheehan (St. Louis, Mo.) had a chance to tie the game with 7:25 to go in the first, but his shot on a 2-on-1 rush with Jeff Carroll (Kingston, Ont.) hit Asmundson in the chest with no rebound. The Pioneers outshot Canisius 9-6 in the first 20 minutes but trailed 1-0 heading into the second period.

Sacred Heart (13-19-6) went on the power play 45 seconds into the second, but it was cut short on a too many men on the ice penalty. Vazzano kept the Pioneers in the game with five saves in the second period, including one on a Tyler Wiseman one-timer with 9:46 left in the period. The Pioneers continued to pour on the offensive pressure with 10 shots on goal in the middle frame, including back-to-back shots by Justin Danforth (Oshawa, Ont.) and Connor Doherty (Holden, Mass.) that required saves by Asmundson.

The Pioneers started the third period on the power play as well, putting five shots on goal but not one on the scoreboard. Canisius then took a 2-0 lead with 17:20 remaining in the game. With the Golden Griffins on a 2-on-1 breakout, Chris Rumble buried a Cody Freeman pass to put Canisius up by two. The Pioneers finally broke through with 14:57 remaining, when George snuck a wrist shot past Asmundson and through the net. It was originally called a no-goal, and play went on. Eventually, the shot was reviewed and called a goal, getting Sacred Heart back within one at 2-1.

Sacred Heart kept pouring on shots to tie the game. Jordan Minello (Sweaburg, Ont.) had a deflection saved with 9:24 to play. George hit the crossbar with 6:30 left as the Pioneers were on the power play. Minello had another shot saved by Asmundson with 3:32 left after taking the puck from Ryan Schmelzer in the Canisius zone. Sacred Heart had two chances to score once pulling Vazzano for the extra skater, but time ran out on the Pioneers as Canisius won game two 2-1 and the series 2-0.

Asmundson made 32 saves for Canisius, while Vazzano had 12. Canisius was 0-for-3 on the power play with no shots on goal. Sacred Heart was 0-for-4 on the man advantage with six shots on goal.

Sacred Heart closes the 2014-15 season with a record of 13-19-6.