| 1/11/2008 9:43:39 PM
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COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - RIT (9-8-3, 7-5-3 Atlantic Hockey) allowed four second period goals, falling to Atlantic Hockey leader Air Force (11-6-4, 9-5-3 Atlantic Hockey) 5-2 in front of 2,095 fans at the Cadet Ice Arena on Friday night.
Greg Flynn had three assists, while Matt Charbonneau tallied two power-play goals for the Falcons, who increase their lead to four points over the Tigers, who fall into third place in the conference standings.
Sean Murphy (Rochester, MN/Green Bay Gamblers) (Owatonna, MN) scored a goal and added an assist for the Tigers, who had their two-game winning streak snapped.
Al Mazur (Burnaby, BC/Merritt Centennials) (Burnaby, BC) also tallied for RIT.
Andrew Volkening stopped 22 shots to pick up the win.
Louie Menard (Chicoutimi, PQ) was brilliant at times, but took the loss, stopping 24 shots.
Air Force went 2-for-3 on the power-play, while RIT was 1-for-4. Air Force out-shot RIT 29-23, including 25-14 over the final two periods of play.
RIT played well in the first period out-shooting Air Force 9-4 and hitting three goal posts.
Both teams had good chances in the opening minutes of the contest, although the Tigers hit three posts in the first period, two in the first eight minutes.
Anton Kharin (Twin Lake, MI/Bay State Breakers) (Moscow, Russia) ripped a wrist shot on the rush from the right face-off circle that eluded Volkening, but rang off the right goal post.
Stevan Matic (Burnaby, BC/Langley Hornets) (Burnaby, BC) received a nifty pass from
Brennan Sarazin (Nepean, ON/Nepean Raiders) (Nepean, ON) on a 2-on-1 break a few minutes later and ripped a low shot that had Volkening beat, but clanged off the left goal post.
Andrew Favot (King City, ON/Aurora Tigers) (King City, ON) completed the post trifecta, as he tipped a pass on a shortanded 2-on-1 break from
Jesse Newman (Kelowna, BC/Trail Smokeeaters) (Westbank, BC) off of Volkening and then the right post.
RIT Head Coach
Wayne Wilson thought that RIT played well early, but Air Force took control as the game wore on.
"I thought that the first period was the best period we have ever played here in Colorado Springs since I've been the head coach," said Wilson. "I don't know if we got a little relaxed after, but Air Force won every little battle and got all of the loose pucks in the second and third periods."
The second period was a not nearly as smooth for RIT, as Air Force fired 19 shots on goal and scored four goals to lead 4-2 after two periods of play.
After a defensive-minded first period, Air Force wasted no time getting on the board in the second period, scoring two goals in the first 40 seconds. Brent Olson got Air Force's first goal, taking a pass from Josh Frider in the neutral zone as the Tigers got stuck in the Falcons zone after Flynn cleared the puck out. Olson sped off on a 2-on-1 and ripped a shot over Menard's shoulder.
Just 25 seconds later, Frider took advantage of a miscue in the Tiger defensive zone, as a defensemen fell while trying to break out of the zone. Frider beat Menard to the loose puck and slid a shot between the goaltender's legs for a 2-0 Falcons lead.
The Tigers got one right back just 51 seconds later, on the power-play, as Mazur
took a cross-ice feed from
Simon Lambert (Ste.-Therese, PQ/Cumberland Grads) (Ste. Therese, PQ) inside the right face-off circle and ripped a high shot past Volkening to cut the Falcons lead in half. The goal was Mazur's second of the year and fourth point in his last three games.
The Falcons went back up two goals, 3-1 midway through the frame, on the power-play, as Charbonneau slammed home a rebound off a point shot by Flynn.
Charbonneau tallied his second goal of the contest with 5:29 left in the frame, once again on the power-play, as he redirected a shot from Eric Ehn that was blocked right in front of the RIT net.
Murphy got the Tigers to within two, 4-2 with just 1:30 left in the period, as he redirected
Bobby Raymond (Lucknow, ON/Owen Sound Greys)'s (Lucknow, ON) shot from the point past Volkening.
Matt Crowell (Kelowna, BC/Williams Lake Timberwolves) (Kelowna, BC) won the face-off cleanly back to Raymond. Raymond's wrist shot towards the net was deftly tipped in about waist-high by Murphy. The goal was Murphy's fifth of the season.
Air Force clamped down defensively in the final period, allowing just three Tiger shots and getting an insurance marker from Scott Koslak with 3:49 left to seal the win.
RIT had two great chances to pull within a goal with about 4:30 to play, as
Brent Patry (Ottawa, ON/Cumberland Grads) (Ottawa, ON) and Crowell were both stonewalled by Volkening from close in front. Crowell had half an open net to shoot at, but Volkening slid his arm across at the last second to make the big save.
This was the third of four meetings between the two clubs this season. The two teams split two games at the Ritter Arena on Nov. 9-10. Kozlak's goal with 3:40 left in overtime lifted the Falcons to a 2-1 win in the first meeting. The following night, RIT scored four first period goals and hung on for a 4-3 victory. Smith had two goals for the Tigers in the win.
The all-time series between the two teams in knotted at 7-7-2. The Tigers have now played Air Force an astonishing 11 times since moving to Division I in 2005. RIT is 4-5-2 in those 11 contests.
This weekend marks the ninth and tenth games of a 10-game, 54-day road swing for the Tigers. After tonight's loss, they fall to 5-3-1 during this span.
The two teams square off once again for the final time in the regular season on Saturday evening, with the puck scheduled to drop at 9:05 p.m. EST.
