The No. 19 Kent State Hockey Club came out on top in a close game against Canisius College, winning the game in a shootout.

“We played a great first period. We couldn’t ask for a better period on the road. The second period we got really soft,” said head coach Jim Underwood. “We stopped moving our feet and stopped winning those one-on-one battles and they put three goals in. But, in the third period we turned it around.  We took the puck down low, kept our feet moving and outscored them 3-1 in that period and were able to win in the shootout.”

The Flashes (6-0-1) started out the scoring with a goal by junior forward T.J West with the assists going to sophomore forward Chance Taylor and junior defenseman Bobby Rhue.

The Flashes took advantage of another opportunity with a goal by freshman forward Adam Wright that was unassisted. Canisius (4-8-0) gained a goal back in the first period with just over two minutes to play in the period with the score at 2-1 at the end of the period.

Canisius continued their momentum into the second period and scored two unanswered goals. One goal came on the power play, while the other one came with 4:53 left in the period.

The Flashes came back in the third with something to prove, scoring two goals before the Griffins could get any. Junior forward Curtis Swan scored Kent State’s first goal of the third period to make the score 4-3. The Flashes received another goal by senior forward Miles Radosevic to tie the score at 4-4. The period ended with the score tied and the Flashes headed to overtime.

In overtime both teams exchanged opportunities, but were unable to score on any of their chances. The game needed more time and headed to a shootout.

West came to the rescue and scored for the second time in the game as the second shooter to lead the Flashes to a 6-5 victory over the Griffins.

The Flashes face the University of Buffalo Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.

“I want our guys to focus on our first and third period of this evening and remember what gave us great chances and the success that we had. Buffalo is going to be a much better team,” Underwood said. “They will be more skilled, bigger and faster. So it’s important that we get off to a good start.  We need to play a very clean, simple hockey game of getting the pucks behind the defensemen, winning one-on-one battles, and getting our feet moving right away.”

Chris Yamnitsky is a sports reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].