Men's Hockey | 12/13/2008 11:12:59 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY – Freshman defenseman #Chris Haltigin (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades)# (Oakville, Ontario) scored his first two collegiate goals, leading RIT (8-9-1, 7-4-1 Atlantic Hockey Association) to a 5-3 win over Mercyhurst (7-10-1, 5-4-1 Atlantic Hockey Association) in front of 1,722 fans at Ritter Arena on Saturday. RIT has now won three straight games to end the 2008 calendar year.
Haltigin was one of four Tigers to record two points in the win. Anton Kharin (Twin Lake, Mich./Bay State Breakers) (Moscow, Russia) and Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/Aurora Tigers) (King City, Ontario) recorded a goal and an assist apiece. #Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades)# (Oakville, Ontario) dished out two assists.
Matt Pierce, Scott Pitt and Steve Cameron had two points apiece for Mercyhurst, who has now lost two straight after going undefeated in seven previous (6-0-1).
The Tigers were strong on the penalty-kill for the second straight night, allowing just one Mercyhurst tally in seven attempts with the man-advantage.
RIT out-shot Mercyhurst 38-35. Jared DeMichiel (Avon, Conn./Chicago Steel) (Avon, CT) won his third straight in net for RIT, stopping 32 shots. He is now 6-4-0 this season. Matt Lundin took the loss in net for Mercyhurst, stopping 33 shots.
The Tigers are in second place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 14 points.
RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson is happy with how his team is showing improvement.
”I think we have played very well in our last four games,” said Wilson. “I like where we are at, as we are in good position for the second half (of the season). We still have a long season ahead.”
It is RIT's second weekend sweep of an Atlantic Hockey opponent this season. RIT swept Holy Cross, 5-1 and 5-2 on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The 11 goals scored in the two wins over Mercyhurst this weekend are the most for RIT in a two-game series since the 2006-07 season.
Both teams scored twice in a fairly evenly played opening 20 minutes of play.
RIT got on the board just 1:29 in, as Haltigin Hatallied his first collegiate goal. Favotattempted a shot from the side boards that was blocked. The rebound ricocheted to Haltigin in the high slot and he ripped a shot over the shoulder of Lundin.
The Tigers had a golden opportunity to go up two goals, as they were awarded 1:24 of a two-man advantage. The Tigers fired six shots during the advantage but could not tally.
Mercyhurst seemed to feed off the big penalty kill and struck back with two goals later in the period to go up 2-1. Scott Pitt tallied right at the halfway mark of the period, as the Lakers did an excellent job cycling the puck inside the RIT zone. Pitt finished off the play in front of the net off assists from Steve Cameron and Matt Pierce.
Rochester native Mike Gurtler gave Mercyhurst its first lead of the contest, as he flipped a shot from the right side boards that somehow eluded DeMichiel after Neil Graham caused a Tiger turnover inside the zone.
Freshman #Taylor McReynolds (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Green Bay Gamblers)# (Sherwood Park, Alberta) answered right back for the Tigers just 1:04 later, with his second goal in the last two games. Ringwald fired a cross-ice pass to Kharin who deflected a shot off Lundin. McReynolds was there to clean up the rebound in front and tie the game at 2.
RIT out-shot Mercyhurst 12-11 after one period of play.
Mercyhurst went up 3-2, 3:51 into the second period, on the power-play, just as RIT returned a man to get back to 5-on-4. Pierce finished off a nifty passing play by ripping a snap shot over the glove of DeMichiel. Cameron and Pitt assisted on the tally.
Kharin tied the game at 3-3 for RIT at the 12:19 mark, as he raced in on the right wing, used the defenseman as a screen and ripped a shot over the shoulder of Lundin for his first goal of the season. Just seconds earlier, Kharin had Lundin beat, but fired a shot off the crossbar.
Just 1:29 later, Haltigin tallied his second of the game, joining the rush, taking a feed from #
Brennan Sarazin (Nepean, Ontario/Nepean Raiders)# (Nepean, Ontario) and firing a shot from the slot that squeaked through Lundin. #
Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/Elmira Sugar Kings)# (Linwood, Ontario) started the rush and fed Sarazin for the secondary assist.
RIT out-shot Mercyhurst 19-13 in the second period and held a 31-24 shot advantage after 40 minutes of play.
Favot recorded an insurance marker eight minutes into the third period to conclude the scoring.
Senior forward #Jesse Newman (Kelowna, British Columbia/Trail Smokeeaters)# (Kelowna, British Columbia) played in his 100th career game this evening.
Last night, the Tigers tied a season-high by scoring six goals in a 6-2 win over the Lakers. RIT scored two shorthanded markers and a power-play tally.
The Tigers faced a top-three, nationally-ranked offense in each of the last two weekends. RIT held Air Force, the highest scoring team in Division I to goals in each contest last weekend. Mercyhurst, the third highest scoring team in the country, scored five goals in two games this weekend.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two teams, 23-12-4. The Tigers are 7-3-1 against Mercyhurst since RIT moved to Division I in 2005.
RIT returns to action on Jan. 2-3, 2009, as they play at AHA rival Bentley.
