Men's Hockey | 2/28/2009 10:54:00 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (21-11-2, 20-6-2 Atlantic Hockey Association) had its six-game unbeaten streak snapped by Air Force Academy (23-9-2, 20-6-2 Atlantic Hockey Association) 3-1 before a sell-out crowd at Ritter Arena on Saturday evening in the regular season finale for both squads. The two teams will split the 2009 Atlantic Hockey Association Regular Season Championship.

Air Force will be the top seed on virtue of the tiebreakers. RIT will be the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament.

Unlike last night's game that featured 73 shots and 10 goals, tonight's game was played much closer and tighter, which featured 43 shots and just four goals.

Brent Olson scored two second period goals for Air Force and was named the game's number one star. Blake Page added an insurance goal midway through the third period.

Brennan Sarazin (Nepean, Ontario/Nepean Raiders) (Nepean, Ontario) scored RIT's lone goal, his team-leading 18th tally of the year.

Air Force out-shot RIT 25-18. The Falcons were 1-for-4 with the man-advantage, while RIT was held scoreless in three power-play chances.

Air Force goaltender Andrew Volkening stopped 17 shots to pick up his 23rd win of the season. He was not tested much throughout, as Air Force's defense was excellent this evening.

Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, Quebec/Ottawa Senators) (Chicoutimi, Quebec) made 22 saves in defeat for RIT. It was his first loss in exactly three months. He was riding an eight-game unbeaten streak.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson thought Air Force was the better team tonight, but overall thought his team played well this weekend.

”Sometimes the team that wins on Friday becomes complacent on Saturday,” said Wilson. “I don't think we worked as hard as we needed to tonight to win it outright. It was a great weekend of hockey in Rochester. Splitting the championship is probably the right thing to do and I am very proud of our guys.”

Sarazin opened the scoring for RIT 4:25 into the contest, slipping a shot past Volkening from in tight with assists going to #Tyler Brenner# (Linwood, Ontario) and Alan Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia/Merritt Centennials) (Burnaby, British Columbia). The goal was Sarazin's team-leading 18th of the year and gave him 22 points in his last 14 games.

From there, the Falcons defense stiffened, allowing very little in the way of good opportunities for RIT the rest of the way.

RIT's defense was not a problem either, allowing just 25 total shots, seven in the first period shots, 10 in the second period and eight in period three.

The Falcons scored twice in the middle frame to hold a 2-1 lead after two periods of play.

Olson scored his first goal on the power play, 6:13 into the period, receiving a cross-ice pass from Tim Kirby and ripping a shot past Menard from the left face-off circle.

Just over 10 minutes later, Olson tallied his second of the night, converting a feed from Kirby on the rush and slipping a shot from in close past Menard.

Page put Air Force up 3-1 with 12:01 left in the third, beating Menard with a wrap-around goal.

The all-time series between the two teams is tied, 10-10-2. The two teams split the season series, 2-2, with each team winning once at home and once on the road. It was the 17th meeting between the two schools since RIT moved to Division I in 2005. Air Force is 8-7-2 against RIT since then. It was the ninth meeting in the last 15 months. 

Before the game, the Tigers honored Menard, Sarazin, #Jesse Newman (Kelowna, British Columbia/Trail Smokeeaters)# (Kelowna, British Columbia), Bobby Raymond (Lucknow, Ontario/Owen Sound) (Lucknow, Ontario), Justin Hofstetter (Bright, Ontario/Cambridge Winterhawks) (Bright, Ontario) and Anton Kharin (Twin Lake, Mich./Bay State Breakers) (Moscow, Russia) who played in their final collegiate home regular season game.

”This is a real special group of guys,” said Wilson, referring to his senior class. “Their play on the ice says a lot. They are as good a senior class as we have ever had. They are great players who are successful on the ice and in the real world.”

RIT's one goal this evening was its fewest on home ice all season, and fewest since a 1-1 tie against Army on Nov. 24, 2007.

RIT is off next weekend, but will host a yet-to-be determined opponent in the AHA Quarterfinals on March 13-15.