Men's Hockey | 11/13/2009 9:37:57 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY – Senior defenseman Alan Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia/) scored a pair of power-play goals, while classmate Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/) recorded his 100th collegiate point, leading the RIT men's hockey team (5-5-0, 5-2-0 AHA) to its fifth straight win, 2-1 over Mercyhurst (2-8-1, 2-4-1 AHA) on Friday evening at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.

With RIT leading 2-1 in the final minute, Mercyhurst peppered the Tiger net, with a handful of good scoring chances. Jeff Terminesi fired a shot in the final seconds that RIT goaltender Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT/) stopped. The rebound was lying in the crease, but Tiger defenseman Chris Haltigin (Oakville, Ontario/) swept the puck out of harm's way as the buzzer sounded.

In what turned out to be a real defensive battle, RIT scored two power-play goals in just three chances, which proved to be the difference.

Ringwald recorded the milestone point on Mazur's second power-play goal of the game, with 2:24 left in the second period. He became the second Tiger to record 100 career points at the Division I level, following Simon Lambert, who achieved the milestone in 2007. The assist also extended Ringwald's consecutive game point streak to eight games.   Ringwald has 15 goals and 85 assists in 114 career games.

Ringwald made a great keep at the blue-line on the Tiger power-play, gloving a pass down at the Mercyhurst blue-line, and feeding Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) at the left half wall. Favot then found Mazur in the slot and the senior defenseman made no mistake for his fifth power-play goal and team-best sixth overall on the season.

Both goaltenders played extremely well. DeMichiel stopped 26 shots for the Tigers, while Ryan Zaploski made 24 saves in the loss for the Lakers.

DeMichiel and the Tiger defense has played superbly over the last five games, allowing just five goals over that stretch. The five goals allowed is the fewest over a five-game stretch since the team moved to Division I in 2005, and fewest overall since the 2002 season.

RIT was out-shot for just the second time in 10 games this season. Mercyhurst had 27 shots to RIT's 26.  RIT also killed off four of Mercyhurst's five power-play attempts.

Favot dished out two assists, while Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) also tallied a helper. Both players, along with Ringwald, are riding eight-game point-scoring streaks.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was happy his team was able to combat Mercyhurst's early pressure, and earn its first road win of the season.

“Mercyhurst played desperate hockey right off the bat, came out hungry and took it to us,” said Wilson. “It took us awhile for us to get it going. The second period was better for us. Mercyhurst took more chances in the third period, and we had plenty of chances to go up 3-1, but were unable to. The defense did a good job tying up sticks in the grade-A areas. Jared (DeMichiel) made big saves when counted on.”

RIT struggled over the first eight minutes, and Mercyhurst took advantage, scoring a power-play goal 3:20 into the contest. Cody Collins took a feed from Mike Gurtler in the slot and surprised DeMichiel from in close to the short side.

The Tigers got their legs as the period wore on, and tied the game on the power-play, as Mazur ripped a slap-shot from the slot that Zapolski got a piece of, but the puck trickled just over the goal line.  Burt and Favot assisted on the goal with 4:30 left in the period.

DeMichiel made a tremendous save to keep the game tied at 1 not long after, as he robbed Paul Chiasson with a quick glove save on a rebound in front on a Lakers power-play.

RIT held a 9-8 edge in shots after the opening frame.

The Tigers clamped down well defensively in the second period, limiting Mercyhurst's offense to just seven shots.

Sean Murphy (Owatonna, MN/) and Burt had a golden chance midway through the period, with a 2-on-0 in front of the Lakers net. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Zapolski made a great right pad save on Murphy, as the Tiger forward tried to lift a backhander from in tight.

Mark Cornacchia (Unionville, Ontario/), Stevan Matic (Burnaby, British Columbia/), and Taylor McReynolds (Sherwood Park, Alberta/) all had great chances to put RIT up 3-1 in the this period, but were denied by Zapolski.

RIT is 24-13-4 all-time against the Lakers. RIT went 2-1-0 against Mercyhurst last season, with all three games being played in Rochester. RIT won 6-2 and 5-3 at Ritter Arena on Dec. 12-13, 2008. The Tigers are 7-4-1 against Mercyhurst since moving to Division I in 2005.

The Tigers are unbeaten (4-0-1) in their last five contests at Mercyhurst Ice Center. Mercyhurst last defeated RIT at home, 4-3, on Feb. 5, 2006, the Tigers first season at the Division I level.

The Tigers exacted a bit of revenge, after Mercyhurst ended RIT's 2008-09 season, with a 5-4 overtime victory in the AHA semifinals.

RIT has out-scored its foes 23-5 over its five-game winning streak.

The Tigers and Lakers conclude their season series on Saturday, once again at the Mercyhurst Ice Arena. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m.