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BUFFALO, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (15-9-1, 14-4-1 AHA) made it 10 straight victories, as #Matt Crowell (Kelowna, British Columbia/Williams Lake Timberwolves)# (Kelowna, British Columbia) recorded his first collegiate hat-trick, leading the Tigers to a 5-2 win over Canisius College (9-9-4, 7-7-2 AHA) 5-2 in front of 934 fans at Buffalo State Ice Arena on Thursday evening.

Crowell scored his 12th, and 13th and 14th goals of the season to lead RIT. He opened the scoring 37 seconds in, gave RIT a 3-1 lead early in the second period and salted the game away with an empty-net goal with seven seconds left. He now has 10 goals in his last seven games. He now has a 10-game point scoring streak with 17 points (10-7-17) during that span.

Anton Kharin (Twin Lake, Mich./Bay State Breakers) (Moscow, Russia) had a goal and an assist, while #Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/Aurora Tigers)# (King City, Ontario) dished out two assists. Favot now has a 10-game point scoring streak, with three goals and 12 assists for 15 points.  #Trevor Eckenswiller (Lions Head, Ontario/Oakville Blades)# (Lions Head, Ontario) added his first collegiate goal in the win for the Tigers.

Jared DeMichiel (Avon, Conn./Chicago Steel) (Avon, CT) was rock solid in net for RIT, stopping 21-of-23 shots to pick up his 10th win of the season.

RIT out-shot Canisius 36-24. Andrew Loewen made three saves for Canisius before being pulled in the first period, while Dan Morrison stopped 28 shots in relief.

The Tigers have out-scored their opponents, 49-24 during their long streak. The have scored at least five goals in five straight games.

It only took 37 seconds for the red-hot Tiger offense to strike, as Crowell whistled a shot from just past the left face-off circle over the glove of Loewen for his 12th goal of the year and eighth in the last seven games. Favot won the draw back to #Alan Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia/Merritt Centennials)# (Burnaby, British Columbia), who fed Crowell.   Crowell circled at the blue-line, slid in a step and blasted the shot home.

RIT kept up the pressure and upped its lead to 2-0, at the 7:54 mark, as Eckenswiller converted a rebound off a shot by Kharin for his first collegiate goal. #Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades)# (Oakville, Ontario) fed Eckenswiller behind the Tiger net. Eckenswiller fired a long breakout pass to Kharin, whose hard shot from the right circle was stopped. Eckenswiller flew down the center of the ice, corralled the rebound, went around Loewen and slid the puck into the empty net.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was happy to get off to a quick start.

 

“Getting two early goals was to our advantage,” said Wilson. “Anytime you score first on the road is a big advantage.”

Canisius pulled Loewen immediately after the goal.

The Tigers nearly went up three goals on an ensuing power-play, pounding the net. #Chris Haltigin (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades)# (Oakville, Ontario) ripped a shot off the post, while a few more golden chances barely missed.

The Golden Griffins got on the board at the 11:47 mark, on the power-play, as a long point shot by David Cianfrini had eyes and eluded DeMichiel, who was screened.

RIT attacked forcefully after the Canisius goal, generating several excellent chances. Morrison was up to the task, making a handful of key stops to keep the game 2-1.

The Tigers out-shot Canisius 16-8 over the first 20 minutes of play.

RIT battled penalty problems in the second period, but killed off four Canisius power-plays over the first 12 minutes.

Crowell scored his second of the night at the 3:04 mark to make it 3-1 Tigers. Haltigin fed a long pass to Favot in the neutral zone. Favot took three steps into the Canisius zone, dropped a pass to Crowell. Crowell fired a shot from the left face-off area that knuckled off a Canisius defenseman and over the shoulder of Anderson.

Kharin made it 4-1 RIT late in the period, on a gritty play by the Tigers. Eckenswiller kept the puck in along the right boards, fed #Stevan Matic (Burnaby, British Columbia/Langley Hornets)# (Burnaby, British Columbia). Matic fired the puck behind the net to #Brent Alexin (West Seneca, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres)# (West Seneca, NY), who found Kharin all alone in front for his fourth goal of the year. The goal came after 45 seconds off good cycling in the Canisius zone by that line.

Wilson was pleased with his team's penalty killing and effort tonight.

”We played well tonight,” said Wilson. “Our penalty killing was good, but we took too many penalties. We don't want to waste all of our energy killing penalties. We got through their power-plays and it deflated them a bit.”

Canisius cut the Tiger lead to 4-2, 5:11 into the third, as Dave Kostuch slammed home a rebound after DeMichiel was flattened in front.

The Tiger defense stiffened, allowing very little in the way of good Canisius chances. Crowell netted the final goal with just seven seconds left as the goalie was pulled for the Golden Griffins.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two teams, 46-14-1and is 7-4-0 against the Golden Griffins since moving to Division I in 2005. Last season, the two teams split four contests, with each team winning on home ice. RIT won both games at Ritter Arena, 4-3 and 4-1, while Canisius tallied two victories at Buffalo State Ice Arena, 6-2 and 5-4.

It was RIT's first Thursday game of the season. 

 

The Tigers are now 14-1-0 this season when leading or tied after two periods of play. RIT has scored 49 goals during its 10-game home winning streak.

RIT and Canisius will complete the weekend series on Sunday at Buffalo State Ice Arena, starting at 4:05 p.m.