ROCHESTER, NY – Junior forward Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) scored with 30 seconds left in regulation, as the RIT men’s hockey team (11-12-5, 10-7-5 AHC) rallied for a wild 4-4 tie against Atlantic Hockey rival Niagara (3-22-3, 3-16-3 AHC) in front of 3,205 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center as part of “Check Your Pucks” night on Saturday.
RIT honored fifth-year student manager Joe Vicario, better known as “Part Time Joe”. RIT wore special jerseys that were auctioned off during the game with proceeds going to the Testicular Cancer Foundation of Western New York, which Vicario founded and the Lipson Cancer Center at Rochester General Hospital through the RIT United Way Foundation. Visit http://www.tcafofwny.org/ for more information.
Vicario, who suffers from Goldenhar Syndrome and is a testicular cancer survivor, is imploring men to “Check Your Pucks” which was the theme on Saturday. Before the game, Vicario who supposed to drop the ceremonial first puck, instead was given a stick by assistant captain Andrew Miller (Chicago, IL/Chicago Steel)’s and he took the puck drop, with the fans giving him over a minute-long standing ovation. He was also named the game’s first star.
With RIT holding a 2-1 lead heading into the third period, Garrett McMullen (Churchville, NY/Trail Smoke Eaters) gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead with his fourth goal of the season 3:52 into the frame. RIT kept pushing for the fourth goal, but found themselves stymied by Niagara’s Jackson Teichroeb. The Tigers would fired a season-high 23 shots in the frame, but could not pull away.
In a moment, the game turned, and Niagara scored three goals in a nine minute span to stun the Gene Polisseni Arena faithful and take a 4-3 lead. Stephen Pietrobon scored his first of two goals at the 7:10 mark of a giveaway in front of the RIT net to make it 3-2.
The Tigers pounded the Niagara net during a scrum just over three minutes later, somehow not getting the puck over the line after Mitchell caused a turnover as Teichroeb tried to clear the puck behind his own net. With the puck loose in front, Issac Kohls made an absolutely perfect home run lob pass nearly 100 feet down the ice to Hugo Turcotte, who corralled it in stride behind the RIT defense and beat RIT goaltender Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) between the legs on the breakaway to tie the game at 3-3.
With just 3:59 left in regulation, Pietrobon took a feed from Alfieri, sped in on a 2-on-1, cut to the middle and rifled a shot over the glove of Rotolo from the slot to give Niagara its first lead of the game, 4-3.
With Rotolo pulled for the extra attacker, RIT pressed for tying goal and got it with 30 seconds left in regulation, as Mitchell buried his own rebound for his 10th goal of the season, send the loud crowd into a frenzy. Max Mikowski (Cheekotwaga, NY/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) carried the puck into the Niagara zone on the rush and fed RIT’s leading scorer Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings). Garbowsky tipped a pass to Mitchell, who had his first shot from the slot stopped, but he followed his rebound and from the right side, fired it past a sprawled Teichroeb.
RIT pressed for the winner in overtime and had a good chance while shorthanded in the final 20 seconds, but could not get the win. Niagara finished the game with a power-play for the final 1:29, but the RIT penalty-killing unit held its ground for the tie.
Mitchell recorded his third straight multiple-point game and fourth in five contests, with a goal and two assists. Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) had a goal and an assist, while McMullen, and Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) also scored. Garbowsky tallied his 99th career point and now has a team-high 39 points. In goal, Rotolo made 20 saves to extend his unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1).
RIT out-shot Niagara 47-24, including 23-8 in the third period. RIT was 1-for-6 with the man-advantage, while Niagara was 1-for-4.
“It was a good effort by our guys and we definitely had our opportunities,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “We did everything to win that game, but we will take the point. Every game is a fight from here on out. We have to keep getting better and keep getting three and four point weekends in league play.”
RIT scored the lone goal in the opening period, in which both teams had a handful of good chances.
Rotolo had to come up big five minutes in with a nifty glove save as Kohls came in on the left wing on a 3-on-2 rush.
McGowan would get his 10th goal of the season and second of the weekend at the 5:34 mark, as his backhander from the slot eluded Teichroeb up high. McGowan came into the Niagara zone and tried to feed Mitchell, but that was knocked away. As a Niagara player looked to clear, Mitchell tipped the puck to McGowan, who made a nifty move on a Niagara defender in the slot and roofed the backhander of the blocker of Teichroeb.
RIT was down two men and then 4-on-3 late in the first period and to start the second period, but successfully killed that off and on an ensuing 4-on-3 power-play of its own, upped the lead to 2-0, as Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) hammered a shot from the slot past Teichroeb for his fourth goal of the season. Mitchell and McGowan assisted on the goal.
Niagara would cut the RIT deficit in half with a power-play goal of its own 8:02 into the period, as Edwards completed a nifty three-way passing play by hammering a shot from the right side in close over Rotolo just under the crossbar for his second goal of the year. Keegan Harper fed Kohls at the left side, who one-timed a perfect pass over for the goal.
Garbowsky, who entered the evening with 21 goals, had a glorious chance to put RIT up 3-1 late in the period on the power-play, as he found himself all alone in front with an open left side, but Teichroeb made a tremendous acrobatic pad save to keep the score 2-1. Later in the frame, Todd Skirving (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sioux Falls Stampede) was all alone in front and like Garbowsky, was denied by Teichroeb. That set up the wild third period.
Last night, the Tigers won for the first time at Dwyer Arena, 7-3 over Niagara. Six different players scored goals and 13 had at least a point.
Niagara leads the all-time series between the two schools, 14-5-11, 12-3-9 in the Division I era. It was the fourth and final regular season meeting between the two schools tonight, as RIT won the season series 2-0-2. On Dec. 12, Garbowsky scored two goals and added an assist in a 4-1 over the Purple Eagles at the Gene Polisseni Center. The next night, Garbowsky also scored in a 1-1 tie the next night. Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) made 54 saves in the two games.
“It was a special night for Joe (Vicario) and raised a lot of attention for a great cause,” said Wilson. “Our guys certainly enjoyed it and love what he brings to the program.”
RIT is back in action next weekend, traveling to Holy Cross for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday that start at 7:05 p.m.
