The Canisius College hockey team boasts a rich tradition that began as the vision of one man and grew into a NCAA Division I program. Dr. David Dietz, professor of classics and the father of Canisius hockey, has seen it evolve from the first day of practice as a club team to the move from the ECAC West to its current place in the Atlantic Hockey Association.
The Canisius Golden Griffins men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I college ice hockey program that represents Canisius University.
Canisius hockey wins the Atlantic Hockey Association championship and will head to the NCAA
The Club Years (1971-1980)
Canisius hockey was born in fall 1971. Canisius founded its hockey team, then known as the Ice Griffs, in the fall of 1971 as a club sport led by Dr. David Dietz.
In spring 1972, the club saw the true beginning of the program - its first win. In April 1973, Canisius was accepted into the Finger Lakes Collegiate Hockey League for play beginning in fall 1974. The FLCHL gave the Griffs the opportunity to play a consistent schedule against a mix of teams from Western and Central New York.
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The club hit its pinnacle during the 1974-75 season as the Griffs finished with a 15-2-0 record and defeated St. John Fisher in the league's championship game, 7-0. With great success during the previous two seasons, it was evident the Griffs were moving to another level. Seeing this, Dr. Dietz resigned after the 1976 championship and allowed Mike Kelly to take over.
That change came in the form of University at Buffalo graduate Mike Kelly. Kelly began coaching during the 1976-77 season. The Griffs finished 9-6-4, falling to Erie Community College in the league's championship game. Kelly kept the team performing at a high level but finished runner up two years running before reclaiming the title in 1979. Canisius went 17-10-2 and won the 1978-79 FLCHL Championship with a 6-4 decision over Niagara-Welland in the league's title game.
The 1979-80 ice hockey season ended an era in Canisius athletics as the club hockey team would lace up their skates for the last time before moving to varsity status.
The Move to Division III (1980-1998)
The Griffs began Division III play with a new look. With a new division to play in Canisius also received a new coach in Brian Cavanaugh. Brian Cavanaugh would take over the program and would lead the Griffs for 23 of the next 24 years. Canisius earned its first-ever NCAA victory on Nov. Canisius continued its success in its second season of play, posting its second-straight winning season with a 16-12-1 mark.
Cavanaugh would leave his position as head coach for one season in 1982 and Carl Koeppel would assume the reins. The Griffs would struggle the next two years under Koeppel and Cavanaugh, posting records of 9-16-1 and 5-21-1. But when Cavanaugh took a year off in 1982 the program slumped to single-digit wins before rebounding after the coach's return.
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During the fall of 1984, a new generation of Griffs would arrive on campus and the school record books would be rewritten behind three future Canisius Hall of Famers. The Griffs turned things around to begin the 1984-85 season. After posting two-consecutive losing seasons, Canisius won four of its first five games en route to a 15-12-2 record. The 9.5 game turnaround from the 1983-84 season remains the greatest improvement in one season during school history. Sykes would lead the Griffs in scoring during his rookie season, posting 54 points on 28 goals and 26 assists.
The 1985-86 season would once again show the promise of the Canisius hockey team. The Griffs posted an 18-9-2 record and would earn the program's first-ever postseason bid. Canisius squared off with Elmira in the ECAC West Quarterfinals but the Soaring Eagles would emerge victorious, 6-3.
During the 1986-87 season, the Griffs would advance one step further. The team won a school-record 21 games during the regular season and earned a second-straight trip to the ECAC West Quarterfinals. The Griffs faced RIT in Rochester and won its first-ever postseason game with a 2-0 victory. However, Canisius' run would end in the semifinals, falling to Plattsburgh, 9-4.
The three seniors wrapped up their Hall of Fame careers during the 1987-88 campaign, posting a 15-12-0 record. Canisius would earn a chance at redemption against Plattsburgh, squaring off against the Cardinals in the ECAC Quarterfinals. However, Plattsburgh would once again eliminate the Griffs, winning 6-3. Torrillo and Sykes graduated as the top two scorers in school history and it still remains that way 25 seasons later. Torrillo owns the program's top marks with 265 points, 121 goals and 144 assists. Sykes ranks second with 234 points, 114 goals and 120 assists. Federico registered 102 points on 18 goals and 84 assists.
With the loss of the three players, the Griffs fell below .500 during the 1988-89 season but still managed to grab it fourth-consecutive playoff berth. However, the Griffs experienced a similar postseason result, losing in the ECAC West Quarterfinals to Union, 6-3. Mike Sisti proved to be the new leader of the Griffs, recording 57 points on 33 goals and 24 assists.
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The Griffs struggled through the four seasons after its 1989 playoff appearance. For the first time in school history, Canisius went four-straight years without a winning season. Canisius' winning ways began in the 1992-93 season, posting an 18-11-1 record, including a 17-6-1 mark against ECAC West opponents. The Griffs earned its first postseason bid in five years, defeating Mercyhurst in the ECAC West Semifinals, 5-3, before falling to Elmira, 2-1, in the championship game.
The Griffs returned to the postseason the next two seasons, falling in the semifinals to RIT both seasons. Canisius lost to the Tigers to end the 1993-94 campaign, 4-3. Canisius returned to championship form once again during the 1995-96 campaign, led by Josh Oort. The future Canisius Hall of Famer, Oort would lead the Griffs to an 18-7-2 record and the postseason for a fourth-straight year. The Griffs would defeat Mercyhurst, 6-2, before once again falling to RIT in overtime, 3-2, in the championship. Oort would post 44 points on 15 goals and 29 assists to lead the Griffs' offense for the first of three-consecutive seasons.
The Griffs finished play at the Division III level with two more playoff berths. For the third-consecutive season, Canisius lost to RIT in overtime to end its season, falling to the Tigers, 3-2, in the semifinals.
The Division I Era (1998-Present)
Before the 1997-98 season, Canisius announced it would move to Division I and joined the newly-formed MAAC Hockey League beginning in 1998. When the MAAC announced it was forming an ice hockey division in 1997 only three member teams had extant programs, one of those was Canisius who became a founding member of the league that began play in 1998-99.
Canisius began its new era in style, posting a 16-15-5 record and advancing to the MAAC Championship in its first season. The Golden Griffins played well in their first season, finishing with a winning record, but it was their play in the conference tournament, allowing them to reach the title match, that made Canisius stand out. As the No. Individually, Chris Duggan and David Deeves enjoyed successful seasons for the Griffs in their first season at the Division I level. The duo would lead the Griffs during the next three seasons.
Unfortunately that was the height of Canisius' time in the MAAC. Despite Duggan missing most of the 1999-00 season due to injury, the Griffs would match a school record with 21 wins but would fall in the MAAC Quarterfinals to Iona, 4-3. Duggan would return for the 2000-01 season, posting his second-best season with 35 points. The first class in the Division I era would end their careers in the 2002 MAAC Quarterfinals, falling to Sacred Heart, 3-2 in overtime.
When two of the MAAC's teams ended their ice hockey sponsorship in 2003 the conference was able to end its support for the hockey division. The remaining nine schools simply reformed into a new conference called Atlantic Hockey and continued on without much trouble. The next two seasons marked a time of change for Canisius. The Griffs left the MAAC after the 2002-03 season and joined the newly-formed Atlantic Hockey Association.
Canisius' trouble in the conference tournament continued throughout the decade and saw them win two out of their first ten games. During that streak, however, the Canisius program went through some upheaval. Long-time coach Brian Cavanaugh came under fire for his conduct through complaints from his players. Dave Smith was named the Golden Griffins' third coach on April 15, 2005.
Smith made a splash right from the start of his career with his first full recruiting class earning 12 weekly awards during the 2006-07 season. In October of 2007, Canisius played No. 17 St. Cloud State to a 3-3 draw, marking the team’s first-ever point against a nationally-ranked school. The Griffs took it one step farther during the 2008-09 campaign when Canisius swept a pair of game at nationally-ranked Air Force. The wins against the No. 15 Falcons marked the first victories for Canisius over a ranked opponent in the program’s history.
In 2009-10 Canisius posted its first winning season in nine years and reach the conference semifinal. Cory Conacher opened his junior season with a hat trick against Lake Superior State and didn't slow down the rest of the way. Conacher became the first Griff to garner Atlantic Hockey Player of the Year accolades and set a number of school records. He totaled 53 points and 33 assists, the most in the program's Division I history, while ranking second nationally with 1.51 points per game. The 2009-10 campaign also marked the final season for Smith's first full recruiting class and the group did not disappoint.
The success of the class did not end as the Canisius season came to an end. Conacher returned for his senior campaign the next season and helped lead a young Canisius squad. On a team that featured 10 freshmen, Conacher became the first player in the program's history to record two 40-point seasons, leading the Griffs with 42 points on a school-record 23 goals and 19 assists. Following his graduation, Conacher would continue his success at the professional level. During the 2011-12 season with the AHL's Norfolk Admirals, Conacher became the fourth player in the league's history to garner MVP and Rookie of the Year accolades in the same year. He capped the season by lifting the Calder Cup with the Admirals.
Conacher upped his game the following season and became the first Griff to appear in an NHL game.
Atlantic Hockey Champions (2013)
Forty-two years after Dr. Dietz formed the program and after 33 seasons of competing at the NCAA level, the Canisius hockey team finally reached the top and claimed a championship during the 2012-13 campaign.
After a couple of modest seasons the Golden Griffins shocked Atlantic Hockey by winning the 2013 Tournament as a 7th-seed and made its first appearance in the NCAA tournament. The title did not come easy for Canisius but the team played its best hockey of the year with its season on the line. The Griffs opened the month of March with a two-game sweep against conference nemesis RIT, its first weekend sweep in the 61-game series history with the Tigers. The two wins secured Canisius a home series to start the Atlantic Hockey Tournament as the No.
Canisius opened the tournament with convincing victories against No. 10 Bentley in a two-game series sweep. The Griffs then traveled to play second-seeded Air Force in the league’s quarterfinals. The Falcons were the two-time defending Atlantic Hockey Champions and had claimed five of the last six titles but Canisius emerged victorious with another two-game sweep. Making the trip to Rochester for the league’s championship weekend, Canisius faced a familiar opponent in rival Niagara. The Purple Eagles claimed the league’s regular-season title and were ranked 15th nationally in the polls but the Griffs earned the 5-3 win to advance to their first Atlantic Hockey Championship. In the title game, Canisius raced past Mercyhurst, 7-2, for the program’s first championship. Canisius won a school-record eight-straight games to win its first league title.
The Golden Griffins played well but bowed out in their first game against top-seeded Quinnipiac. In their NCAA Tournament debut, the Griffs played top-ranked Quinnipiac in the NCAA East Regional Semifinal.
The Griffs nearly duplicated the championship feat a season later but ultimately, fell just short. Once again entering the tournament as the seven seed, Canisius swept No. 10 Sacred Heart in the first round. The Griffs then once again eliminated the tournament's top two seeds to advance to their second-straight title game. Canisius rallied past second-seeded Bentley in the quarterfinals, earning the series victory after losing the first game in overtime and trailing by as many as three goals in the third period of the second contest. However, Canisius scored the game's final four goals and then won in game three, 3-2, behind a hat trick from Mitch McCrank. The excitement carried over into the next weekend when the Griffs eliminated top-seeded Mercyhurst, 5-4, in the longest game in the program's Division I history (93:30) when defender Stephen Farrell scored the game-winning tally in double overtime.
The Class of 2014 graduated as one of the most successful classes in school history. The 2013 Atlantic Hockey Championship MVP, Gibbons also collected first-team Senior CLASS All-America honors in 2014. Netminder Tony Capobianco graduated with eight schools records to his name and owned an impressive 11-2-0 career postseason record.
Recent Years
Over the next few years Smith pushed the program to better results, culminating in their first conference title in 2017. The Golden Griffins finished fourth in the 2022-23 Atlantic Hockey division standings.
Canisius defeated fifth seeded Army in three games to advance to the conference tournament semifinals, where they defeated sixth seeded Niagara in three games and advanced to their second straight conference championship game, their first as hosts. The Golden Griffins went on to defeat seventh seeded Holy Cross by a score of 3-0 to clinch the program's second appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Canisius faced the No. 1 seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers in the opening round of the tournament. Canisius maintained a 2-1 lead early in the second period thanks to goals by forwards Daniel DiGrande and Nick Bowman, before allowing two goals to make the score 3-2 heading into the third period. Shortly after the 2023-24 season, the Atlantic Hockey Association and College Hockey America merged to form Atlantic Hockey America.
Notable Alumni:
- Dr. F. J. St. Dylan McLaughlin '19: Signed to an NHL contract by the St.
Coaches
- Dr. David Dietz
- Mike Kelly
- Brian Cavanaugh
- Carl Koeppel
- Dave Smith
Canisius Hockey: Season Records
The following table shows the recent season records of the Canisius College ice hockey team:
| Season | Conference | Regular Season Finish | Postseason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | Atlantic Hockey | 4th | Lost in NCAA Tournament Opening Round |
| 2012-13 | Atlantic Hockey | N/A | Won Atlantic Hockey Tournament, NCAA Tournament Appearance |
| 2009-10 | Atlantic Hockey | N/A | Reached Conference Semifinal |
| 1998-99 | MAAC Hockey League | N/A | Advanced to MAAC Championship |