COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — The RIT men’s hockey team (3-7-1, 3-5-0 Atlantic Hockey) fell just short on Saturday evening, losing 4-3 at Air Force Academy (6-3-1, 4-2-0 AHC) for the second straight day at Cadet Ice Arena.
Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) tallied a goal and an assist, while Ryan Kruper (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders), and Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73’s) also scored for the Tigers. Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings), Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers), Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders), Darren Brady (Lake Orion, MI/New Jersey Titans) and Jordan Peacock (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Cougars) all had an assist. Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) made 12 saves in goal.
Evan Feno (two assists) and Kyle Mackey (one goal and one assist) each had two points for Air Force, while Matt Koch, Jordan Himley and Dan Bailey also scored for the Falcons. Air Force goalie Shane Starrett made 26 saves and picked up his sixth win of the season.
The Tigers were 1-for-6 on the power-play, compared to 2-for-6 for the Falcons. The Tigers out-shot the Falcons for the second straight day, 29-16.
“Air Force one of the toughest teams to play in terms of generating scoring chances,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “But to hold them to 16 shots in their own building and to hold them to 40 on the weekend, that shows that we have capability. The bottom line is we didn’t get it done. We need to respond, hopefully sooner rather than later.”
The Falcons came out strong again in the first period, scoring the first two goals. A minute into the game, Jordan Himley scored his third goal of the weekend, on a wrist shot from the top of the circle off the face off, making it 1-0 Air Force. Then just over five minutes later, Kyle Mackey converted on the power-play with a wrist shot through traffic from the point, putting the Falcons up by two.
Just past the midway point in the period, however, the Tigers cut the deficit in half, as Kruper tallied his second goal of his career and his second in as many games. The freshman used great stick-handling through the Falcons defense from behind the net and into the crease, finishing it with his backhand. Fellow freshmen Peacock and Brady picked up assists on the play.
After the Tigers were assessed a slew of penalties during the end of the period, Air Force was able to convert on the man advantage once again with 40.8 seconds left in the first. Matt Koch’s wrist shot from the point got through traffic in front and behind Rotolo. The Tigers went into the first intermission down 3-1, but up in shots 8-6.
The second period saw the Tigers begin to take over, coming back to tie the game at 3-3. Midway through the frame, Kerins took a wrist shot from the circle, which hit a Falcons defenseman, and flipped over Starrett and in the net, making it 3-2. Smith and Brubacher had assists on the goal. With under two minutes left in the period, Brown hammered home a rebound in front of Starrett for his seventh gol of the season, tying the game up, with assists to Kerins and Valenzuela.
Just as RIT had seized momentum, 1:11 after Brown’s goal as the period dwindled down, Air Force regained the lead for good with 12.4 seconds left, as Bailey fired a low slap-shot from the point, which hit off the post and into the RIT goal.
In the third period, the Tigers fell just short of tying the game on several occasions. In the final period, RIT out-shot Air Force 13-4, and was unable to convert on two power-plays.
Air Force leads the all-time series between the two schools, 25-20-4. The two teams will also meet at the Gene Polisseni Center on Feb. 17-18, 2017.
RIT is back right back in action next weekend, as fellow service academy Army West Point comes to the Gene Polisseni Center for a pair of games. Both Friday and Saturday’s contests begin at 7:05 p.m.
