| 11/3/2007 9:47:39 PM
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BUFFALO, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (2-3-0, 1-1-0 Atlantic Hockey Association) had its two-game winning streak snapped by conference foe Canisius College by a score of 6-2 in front of 1,131 fans at the Buffalo State Sports Arena on Saturday evening.
Canisius scored two second period goals to break a 1-1 tie and win its first contest of the season. Carl Hudson tallied in the first minute of the period, while David Kasch put Canisius up 3-1 with 3:01 left in the stanza.
Canisius broke the game open with three third period tallies against RIT goaltender Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT/Chicago Steel) (Avon, CT). DeMichel, making his first start of the season, stopped 21 shots.
RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was not pleased with his team's effort.
“You talk about being flat and not ready to play and that was us tonight,” said Wilson. “Canisius beat us to every loose puck and won a lot of 1-on-1 battles. I enjoy playing in this rink with our team speed, but we just did not play well tonight. We had no focus and the effort was not there.”
Canisius goaltender Bryce Luker stopped 36 shots, including 18 in the third period.
The Golden Griffins improved to 1-4-2 overall and 1-2-1 in Atlantic Hockey play.
Simon Lambert (Ste.-Therese, PQ/Cumberland Grads) (Ste. Therese, PQ) and Brent Alexin (West Seneca, NY/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) (West Seneca, NY) scored for RIT.
Both teams got on the board in a penalty filled first period.
Canisius tallied first on the power-play at the 6:10 mark, as a shot from the point by Scott Jenks deflected off a maze of bodies in front of the net and found the back of the net. The goal was later credited to Josh Heidenger.
The Tigers answered back with a power-play goal of their own, as Simon Lambert (Ste.-Therese, PQ/Cumberland Grads) (Ste. Therese, PQ) took a feed from Dan Ringwald (Oakville, ON/Oakville Blades) (Oakville, ON) along the side boards, went around the net and slid a wrap around into the open side of the goal. The goal was Lambert's second of the season.
Both teams killed off a 5-on-3 in the opening period. RIT had 1:05 of 5-on-3 time, followed by 2:55 of a power-play and could not score. Canisius played the final 1:55 of the period two men up, but the Tiger defense did not allow the Golden Griffins to find the back of the net.
Alexin scored his first goal of the season with 15:01 left in the third period, converting off a rebound after Matt Smith (Toronto, ON/Kitchener Dutchmen)'s (Toronto, ON) original shot was stopped by Luker. Bobby Raymond (Lucknow, ON/Owen Sound Greys) (Lucknow, ON) also assisted on the goal.
The Tigers came into the game with the top power-play in all of Division I, converting 38.1 percent (8-of-21) of their chances with the man advantage. RIT converted just 1-of-9 attempts on the power-play. Canisius was 1-of-7 with the man advantage.
RIT holds a 45-13-1 lead in the all-time series between the two schools. RIT defeated Canisius 4-3 the night before, as Walton scored on a penalty shot with 8:25 left to provide the difference.
The four-goal loss ties the largest defeat since RIT moved to Division I. Quinnipiac defeated RIT 6-2 on October 14, 2005.
The Tigers are back in action on Friday and Saturday, as they host defending Atlantic Hockey champion Air Force for a weekend series. Both games start at 7:05 p.m.
