Wayne State scored in almost every conceivable setting, including five-on-four and four-on-three power plays and a shorthander, and got two goals apiece from Jackson Wilson and Brent Renfrew to parlay an early 4-0 lead into its first win of the season, a 7-4 victory over Canisius Friday night at the Fraser Ice Arena.
The Warriors got first-period goals from Wilson, Jack Redwood and Dustin Kingston — with Kingston’s coming on a Canisius power play — before Wilson’s second of the evening, at 2:29 of the second period, stretched the Wayne State advantage to four.
Todd Bisson then put the Ice Griffs on the scoreboard, tipping a shot by Joe D’Urzo past Warrior goalie David Guerrera to cut the deficit to 4-1. Bisson finished the evening with three points to lead Canisius.
Defensive miscues came back to haunt the Canisius, however, as WSU capitalized for two more goals in the second, by Renfrew, and a four-on-three tally from Tyler Kindle to apparently put the game away at 6-1.
The Ice Griffs, however, scored the next three goals — power-play markers by Corey Lucas and Daryl Pierce and a five-on-five goal from Marc Bouffard — to make it 6-4 before Renfrew ended the scoring with an empty-netter in the final minute.
Underscoring the Warriors’ special-teams dominance, Canisius finished 2-for-13 on the power play in the wake of 14 WSU penalties.
Guerrera finished with 17 saves for Wayne State; Canisius’ Stephen Fabiilli registered 21 saves in the loss.
The two teams meet again Saturday night at Fraser with faceoff at 7:05 p.m.
