ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men’s hockey team (12-11-5, 12-6-4 Atlantic Hockey) had its eight game unbeaten streak snapped and lost for the first time on the road in Atlantic Hockey play this season, falling to Air Force (14-9-5, 12-5-5 Atlantic Hockey), 4-0 in front of 2,103 fans at Cadet Ice Arena on Saturday evening.
Prior to tonight, RIT was 5-0-3 over its last eight games and 9-0-2 on the road in Atlantic Hockey play this season. Air Force extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games (7-0-3) with the win.
Air Force jumped ahead of RIT to move into second place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 29 points. RIT has 28 points, one ahead of Holy Cross, who lost at Army West Point. Robert Morris leads the conference with 32 points.
Air Force scored two goals over the first 5:05 of the game and got a big insurance goal midway through the third period. Falcons goaltender Shane Starrett made 24 saves to record his third shutout of the season. Ben Kucera, Dylan Abood, Evan Feno, and Kyle Haak scored for Air Force.
RIT’s Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) stopped 20 shots for the Tigers in the loss.
Overall, shots were even at 24-24. Air Force was 0-for-5 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-3.
“I thought Air Force was the better team 5-on-5, as we just didn’t battle hard enough,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “We played well on special teams, despite not getting a power-play goal. We are in the stretch run and we have to be better as we move forward.”
The Tigers got off to a rough start, as the Falcons scored twice in the first 5:05 of the contest to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
Just 2:31 in, Ledford intercepted an errant clearing attempt from behind the RIT goal and quickly fired to a wide open Kucera in front, who one-timed the pass by Short for his 10th goal of the year.
The Falcons would make it 2-0 2:34 later, as Ledford took a feed from Baskin in the neutral zone and zoomed up the ice, catching the Tigers in a line change. Ledford fired a pass towards the RIT net, off a defender and right to a charging Abood, who tipped it deftly into the top corner.
RIT settled down after that and controlled play territorially for the second half of the period, but the Falcons defense did a great job blocking shots and getting to passing lanes, clogging the middle of the ice. Todd Skirving (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sioux Falls Stampede) had a good chance on the rush, but his shot was gobbled up by Starrett.
Despite zero scoring in the second period, there plenty of chances on both sides and the goaltenders took center stage.
Short had to make a handful of big stops early in the period, as Air Force was buzzing after a RIT power-play. He made a big save on a point-blank chance by Phil Boje, then robbed Evan Giesler as he tried to deke Short in front.
Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) looked to have a wide open net and sure goal on a power-play with 11:45 left in the second, as he found himself all alone in front and looked to slip it to the far side. Somehow, Starrett came across, did the splits, and made an incredible right pad save to keep the puck out and maintain RIT’s 2-0 lead.
Caleb Cameron (Sundridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) had two good chances less than a minute apart later in the frame. He took a feed from Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) in the slot and fired a good hard shot that Starrett gobbled up. On the next rush, Cameron was sprung on a partial breakaway and fired a hard shot from the slot that Starrett gloved.
The Falcons defense went into shut down mode in the third period, allowing just two RIT shots over the first 16 minutes.
Feno gave Air Force the all-important 3-0 lead with 12:31 left, RIT right after a Falcons power-play expired. Matt Serratore fired a shot that was tipped wide by Johnny Hrabovsky, but right to Feno at the side of the net and he was able to score before Short got across.
Wilson would pull Short with 4:16 left in regulation and the Tigers would pepper Starrett, but the Falcons defense once again did a great job blocking shots and clogging the middle. With 57 seconds left, Kyle Haak took advantage of a fanned shooting attempt at the point, cruised into the neutral zone and fired a shot into the empty net to complete the scoring.
Air Force leads the all-time series between the two schools, 23-19-4, including a 21-16-4 mark in RIT’s Division I era. The 40 meetings since 2005 is the most for RIT against a team in the Division I era. The Tigers were 4-1-1 over the last six meetings before tonight.
Tonight was the second and final regular season meeting between the two schools. Last night, Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) and Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) scored power-play goals and Short made 22 saves as RIT and Air Force skated to a 2-2 tie.
The Tigers are back in action next weekend with a pair of home games against league foe American International on Feb. 12-13. Both Friday and Saturday’s games from the Gene Polisseni Center get underway at 7:05 p.m.
“We have to be ready to go next weekend as we gear up for the postseason,” said Wilson. “We have six games left against three tough teams, as we try to secure the bye and home ice for the playoffs.”
