Canisius hands Air Force hockey first conference loss

Vincent Scarsella scored the game’s first and last goals and assisted on his team’s one in the middle Saturday as Canisius overcame Air Force 3-1 in an Atlantic Hockey Association game in Buffalo, N.Y.

Jacques Lamoureux’s second goal of the season, on a power play, tied the game 1-1 for Air Force in the second period. But the Falcons (2-5, 2-1), despite a healthy 42-30 edge in shots, gave up the lead at 5:41 of the third period, when Scarsella helped fellow junior Cory Conacher score his fourth goal of the season.

Scarsella, who scored 54 seconds into the game on Canisius’ first shot on Andrew Volkening, added an empty-netter with 25 seconds left for the Golden Griffins (2-5, 1-2).

“This might have been the best game we played this season,” Air Force coach Frank Serratore said. “Obviously, you can’t get scored on in the first minute. That is inexcusable. After we got the wakeup call, we played pretty well.’’

Canisius goalie Dan Morrison made 41 saves.

“Volkening was very good, but Morrison was outstanding,’’ Serratore said.

“When you have 42 shots on net, you have to get more than one goal. When you only score one goal, you have to play perfect and that is very hard to do.”