ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men’s hockey team (6-4-1, 4-2-1 AHA) fell to Air Force Academy (6-6-0, 6-4-0 AHA), 3-1 on Friday evening from the Gene Polisseni Center. Air Force scored three unanswered goals to hand RIT its first home loss of the season.
Kieran Durgan, Evan Feno and Matt Pulver scored for the Falcons, while Zack Mirageas had two assists. Goaltender Billy Christopoulous made 18 saves to earn the win. Feno’s goal broke a 1-1 tie with 12:51 left in regulation.
Dan Willett (Bayville, NY/Bloomington Thunder) scored RIT’s lone goal 2:14 into the second period. Goaltender Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) made 26 saves in net.
Air Force out-shot RIT, 29-19. The Falcons were 1-for-3 on the power-play and held RIT scoreless in four attempts with the man-advantage.
“I thought Air Force played a full 60-minutes and was stronger on puck battles tonight,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. I did not think we were very strong on our forecheck and weren’t able to put enough pressure on them. We did not generate enough offense.”
Neither team scored in a very tightly played first period that featured just 10 shots on goal, six for Air Force and four for RIT.
Drackett had to come up with two big saves late in the first period, First, he made a big stop on Marshall Bowery from the slot and with a minute left, used his shoulder to turn aside a dangerous chance by Kyle Haak from the slot.
RIT would open the scoring just 2:14 into the second period, while the teams were playing 4-on-4. Willett chipped a pass to Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes), who came into the Air Force zone with one defender back. Girduckis waited and found Willett alone in the slot. Willett cut left and fired a hard shot against the grain just under the crossbar and in for his first goal of the year.
Drackett kept it 1-0 with a tremendous save on a breakaway from Air Force’s Trevor Stone later in the period.
The Falcons would respond, tying the game on a power-play goal with just 1:03 left in the period, as Durgan slipped in a loose puck in front after Drackett made the initial save on Stone. Zack Mirageas also assisted on the goal, Durgan’s fifth of the season.
Air Force would take control with two third period goals. Feno would net the eventual game-winner with 12:51 left, whacking at a loose puck after Drackett made the initial save on Matt Koch. Feno took three hacks before getting the puck to cross the line for his sixth goal of the year.
Pulver would give the Falcons a 3-1 lead with 4:28 left in regulation, blocking a clearing attempt in the neutral zone to come in on a breakaway. He would slide the puck between the legs of Drackett for his second goal of the year.
Air Force leads the all-time series between the two schools, 31-21-4.
RIT and Air Force will play game two of the weekend series Saturday night from the Polisseni Center at 7:05 p.m. RIT will hold a Tiger Teddy Bear Toss. Fans are urged to bring a new stuffed animal to throw on the ice after RIT’s first goal. All stuffed animals will be donated to the Rochester Regional Health’s Children’s Unit.
