ERIE, PA – The RIT men’s hockey team (14-14-6, 14-9-5 AHC) dropped its final game of the regular season, 3-2 at league foe Mercyhurst (17-13-4, 15-9-4 AHC) at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Saturday evening. RIT finishes fifth in the Atlantic Hockey standings and will head to Mercyhurst for a best-of-three quarterfinal series, starting March 11.
Mark Logan (Calgary, Alberta/Brooks Bandits ) and Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) scored for the Tigers. In net, Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) took the loss, stopping 16 shots.
Lester Lancaster, Jonathan Charbonneau, and Matthew Whittaker scored for the Lakers. Brandon Wildung stopped 33 shots to pick up the win.
RIT out-shot Mercyhurst 35-19. The Lakers were 1-for-4 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-3.
“I thought we got better as the game went on and had chances, but Mercyhurst did a job protecting their lead and limiting our forecheck,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “We will take advantage of the bye and get healthy for the quarterfinal series.”
Mercyhurst scored twice in the opening period to lead 2-0, despite RIT holding a 12-7 edge in shots.
The Lakers opened the scoring on the power-play 6:56 into the contest, as Lancaster took a feed in the high slot and whistled a low shot between the pads of Short for his ninth goal of the season.
RIT looked to have the tying goal moments later, as Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) fired a shot past Wildung, but it rang off the crossbar, came down and bounced out of the crease.
Later in the period, RIT continued to put on pressure, as the line of Garrett McMullen (Churchville, NY/Trail Smoke Eaters), Todd Skirving (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sioux Falls Stampede), and Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) generated a handful of chances, but could not finish. McMullen led RIT with four shots on goal in the period.
The Lakers would add to their lead with 3:05 left in the period, as Charbonneau took advantage of a turnover at the RIT blue line, curled and ripped a shot past Short from the high slot for his 15th goal of the season to make it 2-0.
RIT tallied the lone goal of the second period, as Logan tipped in a shot from Brad Shumway (Lafayette, CO/Chicago Steel) from the slot for his third goal of the season to cut the Mercyhurst lead to 2-1 with 4:32 left in the period. Andrew Miller (Chicago, IL/Chicago Steel) caused the turnover inside the Mercyhurst zone as a clearing pass went off his stick to Shumway.
That goal seemed to energize the RIT bench, as the physical play intensified. Michael Holland (Cambridge, MA/Chicago Steel) had a hard, clean body check of a Mercyhurst player in the neutral zone moments later.
Short made a big save on a 2-on-1 rush late in the period, using a lightning quick glove hand to snare an attempt from in tight on Lancaster.
Skirving had a golden chance to tie the game with just over 13 minutes left in regulation, stealing a puck in the neutral zone and coming in all alone on Wildung, but the Mercyhurst goaltender made a clutch blocker save.
Whittaker would put the Lakers up two goals with 9:23 left, taking a feed from Michael Verboom off a turnover in the RIT zone, walking in front and slipping a shot past Short.
RIT would get a late power-play but not convert. With just over a minute left in regulation, Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) dug out a loose puck for Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers), who went behind the net and fed Valenzuela in front, who slipped a shot past Wildung for his 12th goal of the year.
Kerins had two good looks from the slot in the final minute, but Wildung made both saves to preserve the win for the Lakers.
Tonight was the fourth regular season between the two schools this season, with both teams winning twice. RIT won the first two meetings by scores of 4-2 and 7-3 on Jan 2-3, while Mercyhurst recorded a 4-3 win last night at the Gene Polisseni Center. RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 35-20-6, including a 19-11-3 mark in the Division I era.
It will be the third time the two teams will meet in the postseason in the Division I era. In 2009, Mercyhurst defeated the Tigers in the Atlantic Hockey Semifinal at Blue Cross Arena. Last year, RIT won the Atlantic Hockey Championship, 5-1 over the Lakers.
“We are excited for the challenge at Mercyhurst,” said Wilson. “We will use the bye to get some rest and be ready to go in two weeks.”
