Men's Hockey | 2/14/2009 8:45:20 PM

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WORCESTER, MA -- The RIT (19-10-1, 18-5-1 AHA) men's hockey team defeated Holy Cross (10-15-5, 9-12-3 AHA) 3-1 at the Hart Center in AHA action Saturday night. The Tigers out-shot the Crusaders 38-19 as Brennan Sarazin (Nepean, Ontario/Nepean Raiders) (Nepean, ON), who had a goal and an assist, was awarded the games Most Valuable Player.

RIT went 3-for-6 with the man advantage while holding the Crusaders to zero goals in seven power play chances.  The Tigers now have 24 power-play goals in their last 12 games.

Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, Quebec/Ottawa Senators) (Chicoutimi, PQ) picked up the win for the Tigers, allowing one goal and making 18 saves. Its his eighth win of the season and his 33rd Atlantic Hockey victory in his career.  He is 8-1-1 in AHA play and 33-7-6 all-time in conference action.

The Tigers opened the scoring with a power play goal by #Alan Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia/Merritt Centennials)# (Burnaby, BC) at 16:10 of the first. He took a pass from Cameron Burt (Detroit, Mich./Green Bay Gamblers) (Detroit, MI) and ripped a slap shot from the sideboard that beat Ian Dams for his sixth goal of the season.

Holy Cross tied the game at 7:22 of the second period when Ryan Driscoll jammed home a loose puck in front of RIT's net.

RIT took the lead back for good at 18:23 of the second when Matt Crowell (Kelowna, British Columbia/Williams Lake Timberwolves) (Kelowna, BC) tallied his 15th goal on the year. He took a pass from Justin Hofstetter (Bright, Ontario/Cambridge Winterhawks) (Bright, ON) and one-timed it home for the Tigers second power play tally of the night.

The Tigers opened the third period having to kill off four minutes and two seconds of a major boarding penalty by #Daniel Spivak (Thornhill, Ontario/Stouffville Spirit)# (Thornhill, ON) at the end of the second. When Brent Alexin (West Seneca, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres) (West Seneca, NY)  was called for tripping, the Tigers were forced to kill off 3:46 of 5-on-3. RIT responded, killing off both penalties, allowing just six shots in that span.

RIT put the game away at 8:52 of the third period on a power play goal by Sarazin. The Tigers peppered the Holy Cross net. Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/Elmira Sugar Kings) (Linwood, ON) and Cameron Burt (Detroit, Mich./Green Bay Gamblers) were just two who had shots in net in the flurry. Sarazin found himself in the right place at the right time and banged home a rebound for his 15th goal of the season.

The Tigers, now in first place in the AHA standings after an Air Force loss to Bentley, will face Army on Friday and Saturday February 20 and 21 at West Point, New York. RIT split with the Black Knights back in mid November at Ritter Arena.