| 1/18/2008 8:05:30 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY - Simon Lambert (Ste.-Therese, PQ/Cumberland Grads) (Ste. Therese, PQ) scored the game-winning goal with 11:50 left in the third period, breaking a 2-2 tie and leading the RIT men's hockey team (11-8-3, 9-5-3 Atlantic Hockey) to a 4-2 win over Sacred Heart (8-10-3, 8-4-3 Atlantic Hockey) in front of a sell-out crowd at the Ritter Arena on Friday evening. The win moved RIT into a tie for first place in Atlantic Hockey.
Lambert took a feed from Al Mazur (Burnaby, BC/Merritt Centennials) (Burnaby, BC) in his own zone and went flying up the right wing. With a full head of steam, Lambert skated into the Pioneers zone and attempted a wrap-around that beat Stefan Drew to the short side for his 11th goal of the season. Matt Harris (Toronto, ON/Ajax Axemen) (Toronto, ON) also assisted on the goal.
Lambert also added two first period assists for the Tigers, who have now won two in a row and are 4-1 in January. RIT is tied with Air Force for first place in the conference with 21 points. RIT has a game in hand on Air Force.
Freshman forward Andrew Favot (King City, ON/Aurora Tigers) (King City, ON) salted the game away with an empty-net goal with 1:57 left in regulation.
RIT goaltender Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, PQ/Ottawa Jr. Senators) (Chicoutimi, PQ) was tremendous in net, turning aside 37-of-39 shots and was named the game's first star. Drew stopped 27 shots in the loss for Sacred Heart.
RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson thought his team was very business-like in winning the hockey game.
"We had a good first period, clicking on the power-play, but were not very good in the second period," said Wilson. "In fact, we were lucky to be tied after two periods. We were better in the third period and got the big goal when we needed it. These are the close games we have to win, especially in front of a sell-out crowd like we had tonight."
Matt Smith (Toronto, ON/Kitchener Dutchmen) (Toronto, ON) scored two first-period power-play goals for RIT, giving him a team-high 15 in 2007-08 and 50 for his collegiate career. He is the 32nd player in the history of the RIT men's hockey program to score 50 career goals.
Dan Ringwald (Oakville, ON/Oakville Blades) (Oakville, ON) added two assists.
RIT was 2-for-4 with the power-play, while Sacred Heart was 1-for-5 with the man-advantage. RIT now has five power-play goals in the previous three games after scoring just three goals with the man-advantage in the 10 games prior.
The Pioneers opened the scoring 4:59, as Adam DeJong picked up a turnover behind the RIT net and fed a streaking Paul Ferraro in the slot. Ferraro ripped a low shot from the right face-off circle inside the left post and past Menard.
Smith evened the score at 1 for the Tigers later in the period on the power-play, as he took a cross ice pass from Lambert at the Sacred Heart doorstep and slammed a shot home for his 14th goal of the season. Ringwald also assisted on the goal.
The Tigers took the lead at 16:42 of the period on a mirror image of the first goal, as Smith was all alone in front of the Pioneers net once again and slammed a pass from Lambert home, on the power-play.
RIT out-shot Sacred Heart 11-10 after one period of play.
Smith nearly became the first Tiger since moving to Division I to record a hat-trick, as he was robbed by Stefan Drew in front of the Sacred Heart net on a golden chance about three minutes into the period.
The Pioneers picked up their play not too long after and had a territorial advantage for the rest of the period. Sacred Heart tied the game at 2 on a power-play with 8:44 left in the frame, as Eric Giosa converted a perfect pass from Alexandre Parent in front of the Tiger net. Parent found Giosa crossing in front and Giosa deftly deflected the pass past Menard. Dave Grimson also assisted on the goal.
Sacred Heart out-shot RIT 15-9 in the period and held a 25-20 advantage in shots after two periods of play.
Both RIT and Sacred Heart came into tonight's game tied for second place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 19 points.
The game was stopped for nearly 20 minutes in the first period, as Sacred Heart's Ferraro was taken off the ice on a stretcher after getting hit hard by RIT's Tyler Mazzei (Kelowna, BC/Nanaimo Clippers) (Kelowna, BC) deep in the Pioneers zone. Ferraro did wave to the crowd as he was carted off the ice.
This was the first meeting between the two clubs this season. Last season, RIT swept Sacred Heart at the Milford Ice Arena by scores of 4-0 and 6-3. The Tigers never trailed in the Atlantic Hockey standings after that weekend of play.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two teams, 3-1-0.
Tonight's contest was the first home game for the Tigers since Nov. 25, 2007 against Army. The Tigers played 10 games during their 54-day hiatus between home games, going 6-3-1 during that span.
The Tigers and Pioneers complete two-game series on Saturday with the opening face-off slated for 7:05 p.m.
