| 2/23/2007 9:09:50 PM

WALTHAM, MA - The RIT men's hockey team, in its inaugural year of play in the Atlantic Hockey Association and second overall as a Division I program, clinched the conference regular season championship with a 3-0 win over Bentley College on Friday night.

RIT came into tonight's game with a three-point lead over Sacred Heart and two games for each team to play.

Junior goaltender Jocelyn Guimond (Quebec City, PQ/Williams Lake) (Quebec City, PQ) recorded his second shutout of the season, stopping 26 shots to improve to 10-7-2 on the season.

Sophomore forward Steve Pinizzotto (Mississauga, ON/Oakville Blades) (MIssissauga, ON) recorded two assists, giving him a team-high 42 points.

The Tigers scored two goals in the first period and one in the second to pick up the win and improve to 21-10-2 on the year.  RIT is 20-6-1 in Atlantic Hockey play.

"I am very proud of the steady progress our team has made throughout the season," said RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson.  "The effort put forth not only tonight, but all season has been tremendous."

Bentley falls to 11-21-1 overall and 10-17-0 in conference play.

RIT jumped out to the 1-0 lead just 6:48 into the game, as senior Tristan Fairbarn (Innisfill, ON/Newmarket Hurricanes) (Innisfil, ON) scored his second goal of the season on assists from Ricky Walton (Hamilton, ON/Hamilton Red Wings) (Hamilton, ON) and Brad Harris (Winnipeg, MB/Leamington Flyers) (Winnipeg, MB).

Junior defenseman Stephen Burns (Newmarket, ON/Newmarket Hurricanes) (Newmarket, ON) made it 2-0 Tigers at the 12:07 mark of the first period, as he tallied his second goal of the year.  Stevan Matic (Burnaby, BC/Langley Hornets) (Burnaby, BC) and Pinizzotto recorded assists on the goal.

Freshman Anton Kharin (Moscow, Russia/Bay State Breakers) (Moscow, Russia) completed the scoring, burying his 12th goal of the season midway through the second period.  Matt Smith (Toronto, ON/Kitchener Dutchmen) (Toronto, ON) and Pinizzotto had the helpers on the goal.

Bentley out-shot RIT 26-25.  Jason Kearney made 22 saves for Bentley.

Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power-play.

RIT is now 2-1 against the Falcons this season, having split a pair of games in November at the Ritter Arena.

The Tigers conclude the 2006-07 against the Falcons on Saturday evening at 7 p.m.