ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men’s hockey team (14-13-6, 14-8-5 AHC) could not overcome a season-high 54 minutes in penalties, dropping its final regular season home contest of the season, 4-3 to Mercyhurst University (16-13-4, 14-9-4 AHC) in front of 3,544 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center Friday evening.
The loss ensures that RIT and Mercyhurst will finish fourth and fifth in the Atlantic Hockey standings and play each other in the quarterfinals. The official order will be determined on Saturday night, as the two teams meet at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. RIT needs a win or tie to clinch fourth place, while Mercyhurst can jump over RIT into fourth with a win. The top five teams have all clinched a bye for the first round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament, which starts March 4. The best-of-three quarterfinals begin on March 11.
Before the game, RIT honored seniors Greg Amlong (O’Fallon, MO/UMass Lowell), Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers), Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs), Andrew Miller (Chicago, IL/Chicago Steel), Dan Schuler (Webster, NY/Powell River Kings), and Brad Shumway (Lafayette, CO/Chicago Steel).
With Mercyhurst leading 3-2 heading into the third period, Kuqali scored a power-play goal with 12:11 left in regulation to tie the game at 3-3. Moments later, RIT would take two penalties on the same play, putting them down two men for an entire two minutes. The Tigers did a great job for the majority of the kill, but with 11 seconds left on the advantage and 8:53 left in regulation, Lester Lancaster fired a hard shot off a rebound from the high slot past RIT goaltender Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) for the game-winning goal.
RIT tried to mount a rally, but could not stay out of the box over the final six minutes, taking three penalties, including a boarding major. The Tigers, down a man, pulled Short with 58 seconds left, but could not get the tying goal.
Matthew Whittaker led the Lakers with a goal and an assist, while Lancaster and Taylor Best tallied a goal and added an assist each. Jonathan Charbonneau also scored for the Lakers. In net, Adam Carlson was solid, stopping 31 shots.
Kuqali had a goal and an assist to lead the Tigers, while Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) and Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) also scored. In goal, Short made his first start since Feb. 6, stopping 21 of 25 shots in defeat.
Mercyhurst was 2-for-9 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 1-for-3. The Tigers held a 34-25 edge in shots.
“I thought we played undisciplined and sloppy and deserved our outcome,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “We needed to stay out of the penalty box and did not do so. We need to play much better tomorrow night.”
Both teams scored once in the opening period, as RIT ran into penalty trouble. Shots were 13-7 Tigers.
Short had to come up with three big saves in the first two minutes, including a key save on a point-blank chance by Kyle Cook in front.
RIT would get on the board 5:15 into the contest, as Smith used his body to redirect a rebound off a shot by Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) past Carlson for his first goal of the season. Kuqali carried the puck into the zone and made a nice pass to Powell, who fired a hard shot from the slot that Carlson stopped. Smith was charging the net and rebound caromed off his body and in to give RIT the lead.
RIT’s penalty-killing unit was tested not long after, as they were assessed a major penalty. RIT would kill off the first four minutes, before Charbonneau completed a nice passing play in front for his 14th goal of the season, tying the game at 1-1. Lancaster and Best would assist on the goal.
The power-play goal was the first allowed by the Tigers since Jan. 24 at Sacred Heart. RIT had killed off 22 straight penalties over eight-plus games.
RIT would score in the first minute of the second period to take a 2-1 lead, but the Lakers battled back with a pair of goals just over three minutes apart to lead 3-2 after 40 minutes of play.
Kerins would give RIT a 2-1 lead just 53 seconds into the period, taking long feed along the wall from Amlong in the neutral zone and making a nifty individual effort to go around a Mercyhurst defender and roof a shot from in tight over the shoulder of Carlson for his ninth goal of the season.
That goal extended Kerins’ point-scoring streak to five games.
RIT would have a handful of good chances to extend its lead, but were unable to. The Lakers would tie the game at 2-2, 8:47 into the period on a broken play, as Best would have a shot from the slot blocked by a RIT player. The puck laid in the slot for a moment before Best would scoop it up and beat Short for his ninth goal of the season.
The Lakers would go on top for the first time in the game 3:04 later, as Whittaker tipped in a point shot from Patrick Piacentini for his second goal. Jeremy Wu would also assist on the goal.
Kuqali tied the game at 3-3 midway through the third period on the power-play with a rocket of a slap shot that trickled though the arm and body of Carlson for his third goal of the season. Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) and Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) assisted on the goal.
Tonight was the third of four meetings between the two schools this season, as RIT won both previous meetings by scores of 4-2 and 7-3 on Jan 2-3. RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 35-19-6, including a 19-10-3 mark in the Division I era. RIT had won the last five meetings between the two schools dating back to last season.
RIT and Mercyhurst wrap up the regular season on Saturday night from the Mercyhurst Ice Center. That contest gets underway at 7:05 p.m. The winner gets home ice for the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal series that begins on March 11. If the game ends in a tie, RIT will earn home ice.
