| 2/12/2005 10:00:29 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY - Jason Cassells scored 2:41 into overtime, as Elmira came from 6-3 down with just 4:27 left in regulation, stunning the sellout crowd at the Ritter Arena, giving the Soaring Eagles a wild, 7-6 win over RIT on Saturday night.
RIT led 6-3 with 4:27 left in the third period when Andrew Morris ripped a shot from the point on the power-play past George Eliopoulous (Markham, ONT) to make it 6-4 Tigers.
RIT received a four-minute power-play with 1:59 remaining in regulation. While RIT was on the power-play, Elmira scored two short-handed goals, the first by Ashton McLean with 1:16 left, and the second by Craig Macdonald, with EC netminder Greg Fargo pulled with 41 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
The Soaring Eagles killed off 1:59 of Tiger power-play time in overtime, leading to Cassell's game-wiining goal.
The Tigers got off to a tremendous start, skating to a 2-0 lead five minutes in on the strength of a power-play goal by Matt Smith (Toronto, Ont./Kitchener Dutchmen) (Toronto, ONT) and a short-handed tally Rob Tarantino (Oakville, Ont./Oakville Blades) (Oakville, ONT). Elmira cut the lead to 2-1 when Jarrett Konkle scored on the power-play. The Tigers kept coming though and upped the lead to 4-1 late in the first period. Smith scored his second of the game, once again on the power-play at the 14:39 mark to make it 3-1. Brad Harris (Portage La Prairie, Man./Leamington Flyers) (Portage, La Prairie, MN) made it 4-1 Tigers just 48 seconds later, ripping a shot past Greg Fargo.
The Soaring Eagles cut the lead to 4-2 after the first period on a late tally by Macdonald.
The second period was littered with penalties, as very little 5-on-5 was played. The Soaring Eages, who were the benefactors of six power-play chances in the stanza, finally broke through late in the period, as Konkle struck for his second of the game and 20th of the year to make it 4-3 Tigers after two periods.
RIT thought they had netted the insurance goals they needed midway through the third period. Senior captain Michael Tucciarone (Richmond Hill, Ont./Stouffville Spirit) (Richmond Hill, ONT) roofed a perfect pass from Steve Farrer (Belle River, Ont./Chatham Jr. Maroons) (Belle River, ONT) for his team-leading 12th of the year to make it 5-3. Moments later, Brian Payant (Antioch, IL/Fairfield University) (Antioch, IL) stole the puck from an Elmira defenseman in front of the net and put it past Fargo to give RIT what they thought was a commanding 6-3 lead.
Tucciarone led RIT with a goal and an assist. Smith recorded two goals. For Elmira, Macdonald scored two goals and recorded two assists. Konkle scored twice and added an assist.
RIT out-shot Elmira 40-38. The Tigers finished 2-of-8 on the power-play, while Elmira scored three power-play goals in 15 opportunities.
With the win, Elmira (10-11-3, 5-5-1 ECAC West) keeps its ECAC West playoff hopes alive. The Tigers lead the all-time series 34-30-4 in what could have been the final meeting between the two rivals.
The loss is RIT's fourth-straight at home.
RIT (12-8-1, 6-3-1) will host Lebanon Valley at the Ritter Arena on Friday night at 7 p.m.
