Men's Hockey | 11/21/2009 7:10:38 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY - Sophomore Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) scored with 3:37 left in the third period, snapping a 3-3 tie and lifting the RIT men's hockey team (8-5-0, 8-2-0 Atlantic Hockey Association) to its eighth straight win, 5-3 over Sacred Heart (3-6-2, 2-4-1 Atlantic Hockey Association) in front of 1,206 fans at Ritter Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Brenner took a feed from senior defenseman Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/) just inside the Sacred Heart blueline and ripped a wicked wrist shot over the glove of Steven Legatto from 45 feet out for his second goal in two games after missing a month due to an injury.  Chris Tanev (Toronto, Ontario/) also assisted on the goal.

Mark Cornacchia (Unionville, Ontario/) put the game away with an empty net goal with two seconds left.  He scored while being hauled down.

The Tigers had to kill off three consecutive penalties in third period, including a five-minute major penalty assessed to Taylor McReynolds (Sherwood Park, Alberta/).  RIT allowed just two shots during that five minute span.

RIT's eight-game winning streak is the longest active streak in Division I.  RIT will enter the month of December over .500 for the first time in five seasons as a Division I program.  In addition, RIT finished the month of November with a perfect 6-0 mark.  It is the sixth undefeated November in program history.

Sacred Heart out-shot RIT 27-26.  Freshman goaltender Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) made his first collegiate start and played well, stopping 24 shots to earn the win.

Tyler Mazzei (Kelowna, British Columbia/) scored two goals for the Tigers, while Brent Alexin (West Seneca, NY/) and Ringwald each had two assists.  Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) added a goal and an assist.

Matt Gingera scored a pair of goals for the Pioneers, who have a four-game winless streak.  Tommy Castonguay scored his first collegiate goal.  Steven Legatto made 21 saves.

The Pioneers did go 2-for-7 on the power-play, but were unable to score with the man-advantage in three crucial junctures during the third period.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was pleased to escape the weekend with four weekend.

"I thought Sacred Heart outworked us all weekend," said Wilson.  "Our penalty killing in the third period was outstanding and proved to be the difference today.  We kept with it and getting the bounces right now.  I liked how we were playing when we were 0-5 and I like how we are playing having won eight straight."

Both teams tallied twice in a quickly played, fast-paced first period.

Mazzei opened the scoring just 2:07 in on the power-play, taking a cross-ice feed from Hartley at the right goal mouth and slid a shot past Legatto. Sean Murphy (Owatonna, MN/) also assisted on the goal.

Gingera scored twice for the Pioneers in a span of 55 seconds midway through the frame. He tied the game at 1 on a power-play at the 9:38 mark, swatting an errant shot the bounced off the back boards from in front baseball style past Madolora. He then intercepted a pass from Madolora behind the Tiger net, wrapped around the net, and banked a shot off a back-checking Tiger forward for his second tally to give Sacred Heart a 2-1 lead.

Hartley took a perfect pass from Stevan Matic (Burnaby, British Columbia/) and slid a shot into the open side on a 2-on-1 break at the 12:18 mark of the first period. The goal was Hartley's third goal of the season. Alexin also assisted on the goal.

Both teams fired 11 shots during the first period.

RIT nearly went up 3-2 right away in the second period, as Alexin was robbed by Legatto while shorthanded, as Matic stripped a Sacred Heart defenseman behind the net and fed a wide open Alexin all alone in front. Legatto got a piece of the shot, as it then deflected off the post.

Sacred Heart scored its second power-play goal of the game at the 3:19 mark, as Tommy Castonguay scored off a rebound in front.  The Pioneers pressured the Tigers in front, as Madolora made three saves.  Finally, the third rebound bounced to Castonguay who went around a sliding Madolora for the goal.

Mazzei scored his second of the game at the 8:41 mark of the second frame beating Legatto between the legs from the slot.  Ringwald dug the puck out of a scrum and fed Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) down low.  Burt found Mazzei all alone in the slot and the junior forward tallied his third goal of the season.

Sacred Heart's penalty-kill came up big late in the period, killing off 59 seconds of a Tiger two-man advantage.

Junior forward Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/), the leading scorer in Atlantic Hockey, had his 10-game point scoring streak snapped.  Favot had recorded 18 points (5-13-18) during the streak.

RIT is 7-3-1 all-time against the Pioneers, and 5-1-0 at home during that time. Sacred Heart went 2-1-1 against the Tigers last season, and was the only AHA team to have a winning record against RIT. The two teams will play at Sacred Heart on Feb. 5-6, 2010.

The Tigers have won eight straight at home dating back to last season, and are 6-0 at home in 2009-10, outscoring its foes, 29-10.

RIT is off next weekend, but returns to action on Dec. 5-6 at Holy Cross. Both games begin at 7:05 p.m.