ROCHESTER, NY – Goaltender Nick Amato (Fort Lauderdale, FL/Northern Cyclones) picked up his first collegiate win, as the RIT men’s hockey team (13-12-5, 13-7-4 Atlantic Hockey) moved back over .500 with a 3-2 win over visiting American International (6-24-2, 6-16-2 Atlantic Hockey) in front of 2,405 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center on Saturday.
RIT scored three goals in a span of 6:54 late in the first period and held off a late Yellow Jackets push. The Tigers out-shot American International, 54-15, including 20-1 in the opening period and 40-5 over the first two periods. The one shot allowed was a program record for fewest allowed in a period at the Division I level for RIT.
Amato, who made his collegiate debut last night, stopped 13 shots. He made nine third period saves, including a pair of big stops in the final minute when American International pulled goaltender Alex Murray for the extra attacker.
Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) and Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) had a goal and an assist apiece to lead the Tigers offensively. Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) added a power-play goal.
Johno May scored both American International goals. For the second straight night, Murray faced a barrage of shots from the Tigers, stopping 51 of 54 shots, after making 45 saves on Friday.
RIT’s 103 shots on goal over the weekend is a program record for most shots over a two-game span.
The Tigers were 1-for-3 with the man-advantage, while holding American International scoreless in two power-play attempts. RIT has not allowed a power-play goal over the last six games, spanning 15 chances.
“We wanted to pick up where we left off last night and for the first two periods, I thought we did that,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “The only thing I would have hoped we had done differently tonight was score more goals after the fast start in the third period.”
RIT took control right from the opening face-off, out-shooting the Yellow Jackets 20-1 over the first 20 minutes. American International did not have shot until the final 10 seconds of the period.
Despite the hot start, the game remained scoreless until Mitchell converted a 2-on-1 with Powell for his fifth goal of the season with 7:51 left in the opening period. Mitchell caused a turnover in the neutral zone and fed Powell, creating the 2-on-1. Powell waited out the sliding defenseman before finding Mitchell at the side of the net.
Just 3:17 later, Kerins ripped a shot from the slot through the legs of Murray on a 5-on-3 power-play for his sixth goal of the season. Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) fired a pass down to Valenzuela on the goal line. Valenzuela was able to find his line mate wide open in the slot for the goal.
Powell would score his team-best 12th goal of the season with 57 seconds left in the period, converting a rebound of his own shot to make it 3-0. Mitchell fired a pass to Powell in the slot, who had his first shot stopped. Caleb Cameron (Sundridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) tipped the loose puck to Powell on the open side and he buried the shot into the goal from the doorstep.
The Tigers fired 20 more shots on goal in the second period, but Murray was able to keep everything out.
American International would get on the board with 2:59 left in the period on its fourth shot of the game, as May was the recipient of a nice centering feed from Johnny Mueller to rip a shot past Amato from the left circle for his seventh goal of the season to cut the RIT lead to 3-1.
May would get the Yellow Jackets to within one at 3-2 with 13:33 left in the third with his second tally of the game, firing a long shot from just inside the blue line that eluded Amato.
RIT would push to up its lead, but Murray made a handful of big saves late, including an excellent pad save on Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73’s), who came in on a partial breakaway.
Amato had to make two big saves in the final minute to preserve the win, first on a rebound attempt by Marc Dubeau and then off a shot through traffic by Andrew DeBrincat.
Tonight marked the fourth and final regular season meeting between the two schools this season, as RIT won both contests at AIC on Oct. 30-31 by scores of 4-2 and 6-2. Last night, the Yellow Jackets defeated the Tigers by a score of 5-4, despite RIT holding a 49-22 edge in shots, as Murray made 45 saves.
Overall, RIT is 28-4-3 all-time against AIC and 25-4-2 versus them since moving to Division I in 2005.
RIT finished the weekend where they started in the Atlantic Hockey standings, one point behind Air Force for second, and one ahead of Holy Cross for third with 30 points.The top five teams get a first round bye in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament, with the first four teams serving as hosts
RIT returns to action next Friday and Saturday with a home and home series against Niagara University. Friday’s game at Niagara from Dwyer Arena gets underway at 7:05 p.m., while Saturday’s contest from the Polisseni Center also starts at 7:05 p.m.
