| 2/17/2007 9:36:04 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY – RIT had two goals disallowed and had a four-game winning streak snapped as Mercyhurst defeated the Tigers 3-2 on Saturday evening at Ritter Arena. The Tigers fail to clinch the AHA regular season title.
"We wanted to clinch the title at home in front of our fans," said RIT Head Coach
Wayne Wilson. "We didn't have the same edge tonight as we did last night."
The loss drops RIT to 20-10-2 overall and 19-6-1 in the Atlantic Hockey Association. Mercyhurst improves to 9-19-5 overall and 9-16-3 in the AHA.
Mercyhurst took a 1-0 lead at 3:51 of the first on a slap shot from Ryan Toomey. He took a pass from Kyle Gourgon and ripped a slap shot past Jocelyn Guimond (Quebec City, PQ/Williams Lake) (Quebec City, PQ) for his 11th goal of the season.
The Tigers tied the game at 1-1 on a power play goal from Brent Patry (Ottawa, ON/Cumberland Grads) (Ottawa, ON) at 8:49. Brennan Sarazin (Nepean, ON/Nepean Raiders) (Nepean, ON) rushed in and centered a pass that Patry, who had pinched down from his defensive position, one-timed past Mike Ella for his ninth tally of the season. Anton Kharin (Moscow, Russia/Bay State Breakers) (Twin Lake, MI) had the other assist on the play.
Early in the second period Brad Harris (Winnipeg, MB/Leamington Flyers) (Winnipeg, MB) appeared to give RIT a 2-1 lead. His shut handcuffed Ella and rolled into the back of the net. However, the referee disallowed the goal after losing sight of the puck.
Nick Vandenbold gave Mercyhurst a 2-1 lead with a power play goal at 10:52 of the second. Ben Cottreau skated into the RIT zone and centered the puck. Vandenbold one-timed the puck into the open net for his seventh goal of the season.
Matt Pierce made it 3-1 at 15:30 of the second with a wrist shot in traffic that Guimond never saw.
Simon Lambert (Ste.-Therese, PQ/Cumberland Grads) (Ste.-Therese, PQ) pulled RIT to within a goal at 3-2 with a power play goal just 28 seconds into the third period.
Matt Smith (Toronto, ON/Kitchener Dutchmen) (Toronto, ON) ripped a slap shot from the right face-off dot that Lambert tipped past Ella for his 16th goal of the season.
Darrell Draper (Tigard, OR/Cowichon Capitals) (Tigard, OR) appeared to have tied the score. His slap shot appeared to go in just underneath the cross bar but the referees disallowed the goal.
The Tigers had a slew of chances late in the third period but Ella made some big saves and held on for the win.
Mercyhurst out shot RIT 32-29 and went 1-for-6 on the power play. The Tigers went 2-for-5 with the man advantage.
Jocelyn Guimond (Quebec City, PQ/Williams Lake) made 29 saves, allowing three goals, falling to 9-7-2. Mike Ella made 27 saves, allowed two goals and improved to 1-0-0 on the season.
RIT will look to clinch the regular season title next weekend with a pair of games versus Bentley College. The Tigers face the Falcons on Friday and Saturday in Boston, Massachusetts.
