| 1/15/2005 10:07:21 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY - The eighth-ranked RIT men's hockey lost their third straight home game on Friday night, 5-2 to the #9 SUNY Oswego Lakers at the Ritter Arena in front of 1,812 fans.
The Lakers scored the game's first four goals and received timely goaltending from freshman Ryan Scott. The first-year goaltender made 34 saves en route to his fourth victory of the season.
Sophomore forward Tristan Fairbarn (Innisfill, Ont./Newmarket Hurricanes) (Innisfill, ONT) scored both goals for RIT (7-5-1), who lost for the third straight time at home for the first time since the 1986-87 season. Michael Tucciarone (Richmond Hill, Ont./Stouffville Spirit) (Richmod Hill, ONT) assisted on both goals.
SUNY Oswego (11-2-3) opened the scoring 8:17 into the first period, when John Duco slid a puck under Tiger netminder George Eliopoulous (Markham, ONT). The Lakers upped their lead to 2-0 with 4:52 remaining in the first period on a two man-advantage when Tony DiNunzio scooped up a loose puck in front the of the Tiger net and buried it into the open cage, after the initial shot by Gary Bowman was blocked at the side of the net.
Don Patrick gave SUNY Oswego a commanding 3-0 lead just before the end of the first period. Patrick stole the puck from a Tiger defenseman at the center ice and ripped a shot into the top corner of the net for his ninth goal of the season.
After the Lakers tallied for the fourth time on the evening midway through the second stanza, RIT finally got on the scoreboard, when Fairbarn tipped a shot from Darren Doherty (Duoro, Ont./Cobourg Cougars) (Douro, ONT) on the power-play past Scott with 5:10 remaining.
Fairbarn scored his second power-play goal midway through the third period to cut the SUNY Oswego lead to 4-2, but DiNunzio closed out the scoring with a brilliant individual effort, slipping past a pair of Tiger defenseman and roofing a backhander from close range just under the crossbar. for his second tally of the night
Eliopoulous made 31 saves in the loss for the Tigers. RIT finished 2-for-10 on the power-play, while SUNY Oswego converted 2-of-9 chances with the man advantage. Both teams recorded 36 shots on goal.
The same two teams meet again on Saturday night, as the Tigers will make the 75-mile trek up route 104 to play the Lakers in Oswego. Face-off is at 7 p.m.
