Men's Hockey | 10/31/2008 10:59:26 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT (2-4-1, 1-1-1 AHA) men's hockey team snapped a four-game winless streak with a 5-1 win over Holy Cross (1-2-1, 1-2-1 AHA) on Friday night at Ritter Arena. The win is the ninth straight over the Crusaders and seventh straight since joining Division I.

The Tigers' special teams were sharp this night. RIT's power play went 3-for-7 with the man-advantage, including two power play goals in the first period. The penalty-kill unit stopped the AHA's top-ranked power play eight-of-nine times, including two 5-on-3 advantages.

“The difference tonight was special teams,” said Head Coach Wayne Wilson. “The power play came alive and the penalty-killers did a very good job.”

RIT dominated play in the first period and led 2-0 after one, scoring two power play goals. The Tigers went 2-for-3 with the man-advantage and out-shot the Crusaders 10-6 in the period.

RIT's penalty-kill unit was able to give the Tigers momentum early in the contest, killing off a 5-on-3 power play by the Crusaders.

The Tigers power play got going when Alan Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia/Merritt Centennials) (Burnaby, BC) made it 1-0 at 13:07 of the first on assists from Sean Murphy (Owatonna, Minn./Green Bay Gamblers) (Owatonna, MN) and Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades) (Oakville, ON).

Ringwald dug the puck out of the corner and eventually got the puck back at the point. He fed Murphy who slid a pass over to Mazur. He blasted a shot from the left point, beating Roy for his second goal of the season.

Sean Murphy (Owatonna, Minn./Green Bay Gamblers) made it 2-0 at 15:27 on another power play goal. Murphy got a pass from Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/Elmira Sugar Kings) (Linwood, ON). He held the puck and drove toward the slot and wristed a shot up over Roy's shoulder.

Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/Elmira Sugar Kings) made it 3-0 RIT at 16:54 of the second with the Tigers' third power play goal of the night.

Alan Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia/Merritt Centennials) ripped a shot that just went wide of the net. The rebound went behind the net and came right to Brenner who one-timed the puck into the open net for his third goal of the season.

Holy Cross cut the lead to 3-1 with a power play goal at 9:01 of the third. Rob Forshner roofed a wrist shot over Louis Menards shoulder, making it 3-1.

The Tigers responded when Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/Aurora Tigers) (King City, ON) scored at 13:50 of the third to put the game away. He took a pass from Jesse Newman (Kelowna, British Columbia/Trail Smokeeaters) (Kelowna, BC) tipping home a shot for his first goal of the season.

Justin Hofstetter (Bright, Ontario/Cambridge Winterhawks) (Bright, ON) put the game away at 16:12 of the third on assists from Newman and Bobby Raymond (Lucknow, Ontario/Owen Sound) (Lucknow, ON).

Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, Quebec/Ottawa Senators) (Chicoutimi, PQ) was sharp on Friday, making 29 stops. He picked up his first win of the season, allowing one goal.

“Louis had a very good night,” said Wilson. “He was seeing the puck well and made some rally good saves.”

Holy Cross out-shot the Tigers 30-25 but went 1-for-9 with the man advantage. RIT was 3-for-7 on the power play.

These same two teams will face-off again tomorrow evening at 7:05 pm at Ritter Arena.