ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men’s hockey team (3-2-1, 3-0-0 Atlantic Hockey) won its third straight contest, holding off American International College (1-6-2, 0-3-2 Atlantic Hockey) by a score of 5-3 in front of a season-high 3,455 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center Friday night.
RIT unveiled special black alternate jerseys and the first 3,000-fans received black t-shirts, as it was “Black Out Polisseni Center” night.
RIT scored three times in the first 13 minutes of the contest and held two separate three-goals leads before AIC came roaring back to make it a 4-3 game in the third period. The Tigers would seal the win with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Five different players scored for the Tigers. Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) and Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) had a goal and an assist apiece, while Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines), Alden Dupuis (Edmonton, Alberta/Bonnyville Pontiacs ) and Dan Willett (Bayville, NY/Bloomington Thunder) also scored. Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) had three assists, while Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73’s) added a pair of helpers. Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) earned his third straight win between the pipes, stopping 27 shots.
Dupuis and Willett’s goals were the first of their collegiate careers. Willett’s tally would prove to be the game-winner.
Brennan Kapcheck, Joel Kocur and Jared Pike scored for American International. Alex Murray started and allowed three goals on seven shots before being pulled. Stefano Durante made 22 saves on 23 shots in relief.
RIT out-shot AIC, 31-30. The Tigers were 0-for-2 with the man-advantage, while the Yellow Jackets were scoreless on their only power-play attempt. The Tigers also won 37-of-59 face-offs, as Powell went 15-6 on draws to lead the way.
“I liked our start, but giving up the late goals in each of the first two periods made it a totally different game and we had our hands full right until the very end,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “We know AIC will be better tomorrow, so we need to be better if we want the two points.”
The Tigers would score three times in a span of 4:50 to get the crowd going. Abt would score his third goal of the season, snapping in a shot from the high slot after a clean face-off win by Powell, 8:16 into the contest.
Valenzuela would make it 2-0 Tigers at the 11:40 mark, taking a feed from Girduckis in the neutral zone, sprinting into the Yellow Jackets zone, faking a pass with a nifty head fake and ripping a hard wrist past Murray and off the left post and in for his second goal of the season. Chris McKay (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) would also assist on the goal.
Just 1:26 later, Dupuis would score his first collegiate goal, slamming his own rebound past Murray to make it 3-0 Tigers. Powell did a great job to keep the puck in at the blueline and flipped a pass to Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings). Brubacher made a pass to Dupuis who was cutting to the net. Dupuis had his first shot stopped, but followed up and fired the puck past Murray, who was out of position.
Murray was pulled right after Dupuis goal in favor of Durante.
The Yellow Jackets would cut the RIT lead to 3-1 with 1:10 left in the period, as Kapcheck slipped in behind the RIT defense, taking a pass from Johno May and sliding a shot just under the glove of a sliding Drackett for his third goal of the season.
The two teams traded goals in the second period, as RIT held a 13-12 edge in shots on goal.
Willett made it 4-1 Tigers with his first collegiate goal 5:06 into the period, as he swatted home his own rebound after Durante made the initial save. Brown held the puck down low, kicking pass to Powell. Powell went around the boards and found Willett cutting to the net. Willett had his first chance stopped, but was able to beat Durante between the legs on the rebound.
RIT looked to hold a three-goal heading into the intermission, but Kocur got around his man after Martin Mellberg gave him a pass in the neutral zone and he was able to slide the puck under the pad of Drackett with just 1.8 seconds left in the period to make it a 4-2 game.
The Yellow Jackets would make it a 4-3 game with 10:35 left in regulation, as Pike would convert on a rebound after Drackett made the initial save on a shot by Bryant Christian.
AIC would keep coming and have a handful of chances to tie the game, but could not convert. Drackett made a tremendous save on Andrew DeBrincat from the slot with just over three minutes left.
With just under a minute left and Durante pulled, the Yellow Jackets won a face-off in the RIT zone and got the puck back to DeBrincat. The defenseman fired a shot that was blocked by Brown in front with the carom going right to Valenzuela. Valenzuela chipped the puck out of the zone to Girduckis in the neutral zone, who scored into the empty net from just before center ice for his third goal of the year to put the game away for RIT.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 30-5-3. The Tigers are 18-2-2 all-time against the Yellow Jackets on home ice.
RIT and American International complete their season series Saturday night from the Polisseni Center at 7:05 p.m. It is American Sign Language Appreciation night.
