| 3/15/2008 8:34:54 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY -- The RIT men's hockey team was defeated by Air Force Academy 5-0 in the Atlantic Hockey Association semifinals in front of an AHA playoff record attendance of 3,933 fans at Blue Cross Arena.

Air Force will face Mercyhurst in the finals on Sunday evening at 7:05 pm at Blue Cross Arena. The Tigers finish their season with a 19-12-6 overall record.

"It's an abrupt end to the season," said RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson. "Despite tonight I am very happy with our season and what we've accomplished."

The Falcons led after one period on a power play by Brent Olson. Olson took a feed from Josh Frider and his first shot was saved by Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, PQ/Ottawa Jr. Senators) (Chicoutimi, PQ) but the rebound came back to Olson who one-timed it into the net for a 1-0 Air Force lead.

Brennan Sarazin (Nepean, ON/Nepean Raiders) (Nepean, ON) had a great chance late in the first period for the Tigers. He crashed the net on a rush and an errant puck came to him but his one-timer was saved by Air Force goaltender Andrew Volkening.

The Falcons tallied three second-period goals to take command of the game. Air Force made it 2-0 early in the second period on a goal by Mike Phillipich. He and Josh Schaffer skated in two-on-one into the RIT zone. Schaffer fed Phillipich who beat Menard cleanly with a wrist shot.

The Falcons made it 3-0 on a short-handed partial breakaway by Matt Fairchild. The Falcons broke out and Fairchild out-raced the RIT defenseman and beat Menard on the short side for a 3-0 lead.

Olson tallied his second of the game late in the second period to make it 4-0. Matt Charbonneau took a shot from the point that Olson, who was parked in front of the net, tipped home for his 17th goal of the season.

Matt Fairchild rounded out the scoring with his second tally of the night at 10:34 on assists from Jeff Hajner and  Michael Mayra.

RIT was outshot 29-24 by the Falcons. The Tigers went 0-for-7 with the man-advantage, while Air Force went 2-for-7 on the power play.

Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, PQ/Ottawa Jr. Senators) took the loss for RIT making 22 stops.