Click here for game stats

ROCHESTER, NY – St. Lawrence University scored a pair of goals 1:18 apart midway through the second period to break a scoreless tie and hand the RIT men's hockey team its second defeat in as many nights against an ECAC foe, 2-1 on Saturday evening in front of 3,296 fans at the Blue Cross Arena.

Down 2-0 heading into the third period, RIT staged a furious rally, out-shooting the Saints 16-5 over the final 20 minutes. St. Lawrence's defense blocked 20 RIT shots on the evening.

Junior #Brent Alexin (West Seneca, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres)# (West Seneca, NY) tallied RIT's lone goal with 11:56 left in regulation, as he took a feed from #Stevan Matic (Burnaby, British Columbia/Langley Hornets)# (Burnaby, British Columbia) at the Tiger blue-line and skated in with #Taylor McReynolds (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Green Bay Gamblers)# (Sherwood Park, Alberta) on a 2-on-1 break. Alexin used McReynolds as a decoy perfectly and snapped a wrist shot past St. Lawrence goaltender Alex Petizian on the short side for his first goal of the year.  Freshman defenseman #Riley Clark (Saskatoon, Sasakatchewan/Melfort Mustangs)# (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) tallied his first collegiate assist on the goal, starting the play with a pass to Matic.

The goal energized the Tigers and the loud crowd at Blue Cross Arena, which was extremely vocal the rest of way.

Unfortunately for RIT, Petizian stood tall the rest of the way, as he braved the RIT onslaught and made a bunch of big saves down the stretch.

Sean Murphy (Owatonna, Minn./Green Bay Gamblers) (Owatonna, MN) had RIT's best chance with about nine minutes left, as his backhander from point-blank range was stopped by Petizian. The rebound went behind him and nearly went over the goal line, as St. Lawrence's Mike McKenzie swept the puck off the line.

RIT out-shot St. Lawrence 29-26. The Tiger power-play was 0-for-8, while St. Lawrence went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

Petizian was named the game's first star after making 28 saves. RIT goaltender #Jared DeMichiel (Avon, Conn./Chicago Steel)# (Avon, CT) was brilliant in defeat for RIT, stopping 24 saves. He made several great saves throughout and kept RIT in the game early in the contest.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was happy with his team's effort all weekend, despite the two losses.

”We are one or two bounces from scoring goals,” said Wilson. “Right now, the puck's not going the way we want it to go. We're working hard, we're getting close and that's all you really can ask for.”

 

St. Lawrence opened the scoring immediately after the Saints killed off a Tiger power-play midway through the second period. Aaron Bogosian came flying down the left wing into the RIT zone, wound up and blasted a slap-shot from 30-feet out past DeMichiel on the glove side to open the scoring at the 11:30 mark.

Just 1:18 later, the Saints struck again, as a bad line change by the Tigers allowed Travis Vermeulen to come in all alone on DeMichiel. Vermeulen faked a shot then snapped a quick shot past DeMichiel on the blocker side. Jared Keller and Shawn Fensel assisted on the goal.

RIT had countless chances in the period, as they had four power-plays, including 25 seconds of a two-man advantage. St. Lawrence's defense did an excellent job blocking Tiger shots from getting to the net.

Later in the period, #Justin Hofstetter (Bright, Ontario/Cambridge Winterhawks)# (Bright, Ontario) had a great chance off a rebound in front of the Saints net, but Petizian got his blocker on the puck while sprawled on the ice. #Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/Elmira Sugar Kings)# (Linwood, Ontario) and #Trevor Eckenswiller (Lions Head, Ontario/Oakville Blades)# (Lions Head, Ontario) both had a pair of great opportunities from in tight on the power-plays, but could not convert.

St. Lawrence controlled play over the opening 20 minutes, out-shooting RIT 14-5, but DeMichiel was tremendous, stopping all 14 shots on goal he faced. He made two amazing pad saves on a pair of 2-on-1's from in close. He slid across to rob Jared Keller on a shorthanded attempt early in the period. A few minutes later, somehow, DeMichiel got his pad on a stuff-in attempt by Casey Parenteau from in tight to keep the game scoreless.

RIT's best chance came about five minutes in, when #Bobby Raymond (Lucknow, Ontario/Owen Sound)# (Lucknow, Ontario) ripped a slap-shot from the right face-off circle past Petizian, but directly off the right goal post and out. Murphy nearly beat Petizian with a tricky shot from the side boards, as the puck trickled under the junior goaltender, but off the side of the net.

Last night, the Tigers squandered a 2-0 first period in a 6-4 loss to #14 Clarkson in front of a sellout crowd at Ritter Arena. #Jesse Newman (Kelowna, British Columbia/Trail Smokeeaters)# (Westbank, British Columbia) scored twice to lead RIT. The Tigers out-shot Clarkson 39-25.

St. Lawrence trounced Niagara by a score of 5-1 on Friday evening.

 

It was nearly a year ago, on Oct. 27, 2007, when RIT upended Cornell 4-1 in front of 5.142 fans at Blue Cross Arena. The Tigers fell to Air Force Academy, 5-0 before 3,933 fans in the Atlantic Hockey Association semifinals on March 15, 2008.

St. Lawrence leads the all-time series between the two schools, 6-1-0. It was the fourth meeting since RIT went Division I in 2005. RIT is 1-3-0 against the Saints since then. 

RIT will play at the Blue Cross Arena at least one more time this season, as they host the United States-Under 18 National Team in an exhibition contest on Friday, Jan. 30 at 7:05 p.m. In addition, the Atlantic Hockey Final Four will be held at Blue Cross Arena for the third straight year in March.

The Tigers are back in action on Friday and Saturday, when they open Atlantic Hockey Association conference play with a weekend series at Sacred Heart University. Game time for both nights is 7:05 p.m.