WEST POINT, NY – The RIT men’s hockey team (1-2-1, 1-0-0 AHC) scored four unanswered second period goals to earn its first victory of the season, 5-4 over Army West Point (3-1-0, 0-0-0 AHC) at Tate Rink on Friday night.
Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines) scored a pair of goals, while Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) had his second straight three-point effort with a career-high three assists. Jordan Peacock (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Cougars), Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings) and Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) added goals, while Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73’s) recorded a pair of assists.
Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) earned his first collegiate win in net, stopping 26 of 30 shots.
Michael Wilson and Dominic Franco scored a goal and added an assist for Army West Point, while Tyler Pham and Tipper Higgins also scored. Goaltender Cole Bruns made 24 saves in the loss.
RIT had just two power-plays in the contest and scored on both of them. RIT killed off all six Army West Point’s power-play chances.
“We are still a work in progress, but it was nice to get two points to start league play,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “We need to simplify our game but still play with an aggressive edge.”
Army West Point would get on the board first, 7:30 into the contest, as Pham put away a pass from Wilson on a 3-on-2 rush for his second goal of the season.
Mark Logan (Calgary, Alberta/Brooks Bandits) had a great chance on a 3-on-2 rush moments later, but Bruns came across to make the save. Drackett came up big later in the period, robbing a backhander from Taylor Maruna in front.
The Black Knights would go up 2-0 with 2:06 left in the opening period, as Wilson took a feed from Franco in the neutral zone, came in over the line on a 1-on-1 rush, cut to the middle and fired a rocket of a shot back against the grain and over the glove of Drackett.
RIT would come out with authority in the second period, scoring four unanswered tallies to lead 4-2 after 40 minutes of play.
Peacock would tally his second goal in as many games 3:28 into the period, slamming in a rebound after Shawn Cameron (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Cumberland Grads) redirected a shot attempt by Jake Hamacher (Corona, CA/Dubuque Fighting Saints). The assist was Hamacher’s first collegiate point.
Just 2:13 later, Abt would score the first of his two second period goals, as he took a feed from defense partner Chris McKay (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) and hammered a snap shot from the top of the left circle past Bruns. The assist was McKay’s second of his career.
Brubacher would give RIT a lead they would not relinquish with 10:44 left in the second, as he powered in a one-timer off a feed from Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) on the power-play past Bruns to make it 3-2 Tigers.
Abt would tally once again on the power-play with 5:46 left in the period, showing great poise to wait out a pair of sliding Army defenders and whistle a high shot past Bruns. Girduckis and Dan Willett (Bayville, NY/Bloomington Thunder) assisted on the goal. The assist for Willett was the first point of his collegiate career.
Army would come back and cut the lead to 4-3 early in the third period, as Higgins slammed home a pass from Ian Mansfield in front.
Valenzuela would give RIT its two-goal lead back with 11:40 left in regulation, as he took a feed from Brown in tight, was stopped on his first attempt, but buried the rebound for a big insurance goal.
Army would pull Bruns with just under three minutes left and cut the lead in half with 26.8 seconds left, as a shot by Brendan Soucie went off the chest of Franco and past Drackett.
Valenzuela won a pair of key draws in the final seconds to help seal the win for the Tigers.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 18-3-6 and is 9-1-3 against Army West Point at Tate Rink. The Tigers are 17-1-4 against the Black Knights over the last 22 meetings.
Tonight was the Atlantic Hockey opener for the Tigers. They improve to 7-3-2 all-time in league openers.
RIT and Army West Point wrap up their weekend series Saturday night from Tate Rink at 7:05 p.m.
