| 3/8/2008 9:52:59 PM
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ROCHESTER, NY – Matt Smith (Toronto, ON/Kitchener Dutchmen)'s (Toronto, ON) third goal of the game, 4:17 into overtime, lifted the RIT men's hockey team (19-11-6) into the Atlantic Hockey Final Five at Blue Cross Arena next weekend, 5-4. It was RIT's second straight 5-4 overtime win over the Crusaders this weekend. RIT is now riding a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2).
It was fitting that three seniors would combine on the game-winning goal. Ricky Walton (Hamilton, ON/Hamilton Red Wings) (Hamilton, ON) passed the puck back to Brent Patry (Ottawa, ON/Cumberland Grads) (Ottawa, ON) at the right blue-line. Patry flung a wrist shot towards the net that Smith redirected past Adam Roy. The goal was Smith's 27th of the season.
Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, PQ/Ottawa Jr. Senators) (Chicoutmi, PQ) made a big glove save in the first minute of the overtime.
Smith now has hat-tricks in back-to-back games. No RIT player had never scored a hat-trick in their first 114 Division I games.
Simon Lambert (Ste.-Therese, PQ/Cumberland Grads) (Ste. Therese, PQ) recorded three assists, extending his point-scoring streak to 11 games. Lambert, who had three assists last night, now has 22 points on nine goals and 13 assists in that span, and has 21 goals and 30 assists this season.
Rob Forshner scored two goals for Holy Cross, who finish their season with a 10-19-7 record.
RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson thought the fans got their money's worth this weekend.
"It seemed as if the team fought the hardest at various times, were rewarded," said Wilson. "It was entertaining for the fans, no doubt. There was a lot of emotion, throughout the whole series. We must be able to handle the highs and lows, put everything in check and be ready to come back."
RIT squandered a 3-1 second period lead and found themselves trailing 4-3 after two periods.
The Tigers sent the game into overtime for the second straight night, tying the game at 4 with 8:32 left in regulation. Jesse Newman (Kelowna, BC/Trail Smokeeaters) (Westbank, BC) slid a shot through the legs of Sacred Heart goaltender Adam Roy after RIT won a draw inside the offensive zone. Anton Kharin (Twin Lake, MI/Bay State Breakers) (Moscow, Russia) won the draw and cycled the puck into the corner, where he found Darrell Draper (Tigard, OR/Cowichan Capitals) (Tigard, OR). Draper fed Newman in front and the junior forward converted for his fifth goal of the season.
Holy Cross nearly went up 5-3 a few minutes earlier, as a shot from Ryan Driscoll eluded Menard, but hit the right goal post.
RIT out-shot Holy Cross 35-20 after regulation and 38-21 for the game. Menard made 17 saves to pick up his 18th win of the season. Roy stopped 33 shots for Holy Cross.
Smith opened the scoring just 3:12 into the game on the power-play on a play that saw all five Tigers on the ice touch the puck in succession. Dan Ringwald (Oakville, ON/Oakville Blades) (Oakville, ON) fed Al Mazur (Burnaby, BC/Merritt Centennials) (Burnaby, BC) at the left point. Mazur found Sean Murphy (Rochester, MN/Green Bay Gamblers) (Owatonna, MN) on the left half wall, who one-touched a pass to Lambert. Lambert and Smith had a 2-on-1 break down low and Lambert feathered a perfect pass to Smith who had nothing but net to shoot at. Smith made no mistake for his 25th goal of the year.
Holy Cross tied the game at the 8:19 mark, as Dale Reinhardt came in on Menard and put a shot through the pads from 15-feet out.
The Tigers reclaimed the lead with 4:37 left in the period, as the overtime hero of Friday's game, Matt Crowell (Kelowna, BC/Williams Lake Timberwolves) (Kelowna, BC) jammed home a rebound off a shot from Andrew Favot (King City, ON/Aurora Tigers) (King City, ON) in front of the Holy Cross net. Lambert also assisted on the goal, Crowell's 11th of the year.
RIT out-shot Holy Cross 10-4 over the first 20 minutes of play.
The Tigers started the second period with four minutes of power-play time. Smith scored his fifth goal of the weekend, second of the night and 26th of the year just 1:07 into the second period, on the power-play, as he took another goalmouth feed from Lambert and swatted the puck home. Murphy drew the second assist.
RIT had a few great chances to go up 4-1 on the same power-play, but were unable to convert.
From there, the rest of period went horribly wrong for the Tigers, as the Crusaders stormed back from the 3-1 deficit to take a 4-3 lead after 40 minutes of play.
The Crusaders tied the game with two goals in 38 seconds. Cal St. Denis made it 3-2 Tigers on a nifty end-to-end rush at the 5:16 mark. Forshner tied the game at the 5:54 mark, taking a feed from Everett Sheen in front of the net and slipping it past Menard.
Forshner scored his second straight goal at the 12:34 mark to give Holy Cross its first lead of the game, as he took advantage of a Tiger miscue in front, found a loose puck and shoved it home.
The referees were busy in that period, whistling 18 penalties for 52 minutes. Surprisingly enough, Holy Cross had just two power-plays on penalties called in the period and RIT had zero. Those were the final penalties of the night.
RIT held a 23-13 edge in shots after 20 minutes of play after out-shooting the Crusaders 13-9 in that frame.
It marked the 11th straight game that the Tigers have scored a power-play goal. The Tigers are 19-for-45 with the man advantage during that span.
Before a win over Mercyhurst on Nov. 17, the Tigers had gone four years between overtime wins. RIT has now won four overtime games since then, and has played in a team-record 11 overtime contests.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two teams, 10-5-0.
The Tigers swept the regular season series, defeating the Crusaders by scores of 5-1 and 5-2 on Jan. 4 and Jan. 5 in Worcester, Mass.
Last night, the Tigers won game one in dramatic fashion, coming back from three, third-period one goal deficits and winning 5-4 in overtime on a goal from Crowell. RIT tied the game at three different junctures in a wild third period that featured five goals.
Smith became the first Tiger since the program moved to Division I to record a hat-trick, with a pair of power-play tallies and an even strength goal. His third goal of the game tied the game at 4 late in the third period and send the contest to overtime. Lambert and Ringwald dished out three assists each.
The Tigers will play on Saturday evening at 7:35 p.m. at the Blue Cross Arena in one Atlantic Hockey Association semifinal against #3 Air Force.
