Men's Hockey | 2/6/2009 11:01:32 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (16-10-1, 15-5-1 AHA) had its Division I school record 11-game winning streak snapped by Sacred Heart, (7-16-4, 7-11-3 AHA) 6-4 in front of 1,809 fans at Ritter Arena on Friday night. It was RIT's first loss since Dec. 5, 2007, a span of 63 days.

David Berube broke a 4-4 tie with 4:47 left in regulation swatting a rebound home in mid-air, after RIT goaltender Jared DeMichiel (Avon, Conn./Chicago Steel) (Avon, CT) made the initial save off a shot from Bear Trapp.

Erik Boisvert put the game away with an empty-net goal with 20 seconds left.

The Tigers trailed 4-3 until midway through the third period, when #Alan Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia/Merritt Centennials)# (Burnaby, British Columbia) ripped a slap-shot from the point on the power-play that went over the shoulder of Oliver St. Onge for his fifth goal of the season. Cameron Burt (Detroit, Mich./Green Bay Gamblers) (Detroit, MI) and Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades) (Oakville, Ontario) assisted on the goal.

RIT had a golden chance the go up 5-4 with 6:05 left, as a blocked shot caromed to Ringwald in the slot. Ringwald fired with nothing but an open net in front of him, but somehow, St. Onge got back to stop the shot with the shaft of his stick and keep the game tied.

Berube and Trapp each had three points to lead the Pioneers. Berube scored two goals and added an assist, while Trapp tallied a goal and two assists. Boisvert also scored twice for the Pioneers, who snapped a three-game winless streak. St. Onge made 36 saves to pick up the win.

RIT out-shot Sacred Heart, 40-29, including 18-9 in the third period. The Tigers were 2-for-7 on the power-play. Sean Murphy (Owatonna, Minn./Green Bay Gamblers) (Owatonna, MN) led the way with a pair of goals. Ringwald and Burt added two assists, while Bobby Raymond (Lucknow, Ontario/Owen Sound) (Lucknow, Ontario) had a goal and an assist.

Tiger Head Coach Wayne Wilson though his team lacked focus and did not play with great effort.

”We didn't have any focus or energy and played lackadaisically,” said Wilson. “Sacred Heart worked their tails off. Defensively, we were not strong. It's a disappointing loss, but we have to regroup tomorrow night and prove we can beat them.”

RIT out-scored its opponents, 53-27 during the winning streak and had 40 goals over during the seven-game home winning streak, both snapped.

Sacred Heart jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but RIT responded to score three times in a 2:27 span, including two goals in a 22 seconds span to take a 3-2 lead after one period of play.

It was an intense, fast-paced period, despite nine power-play attempts and 13 minors called.

Trapp opened the scoring for Sacred Heart just 50 seconds in one-timing a pass of a cleanly won face-off by Berube just under the crossbar on the right side of the net.

Boisvert made it 2-0 Pioneers at the 12:10 mark of the period, on a 5-on-3 power-play ripping a shot over DeMichiel from the right face-off circle. DeMichiel had made a couple of tremendous saves earlier in the 5-on-3 advantage. Sacred Heart had two 5-on-3 power-plays during the period.

Raymond put RIT on the board at the 14:53 mark, on the power-play to cut the Pioneers lead in half. Sacred Heart had a lane to clear the puck out, but Raymond made a great play to smother the attempt. He then played the give-and-go with Burt at the point and rifled a slap-shot over the glove of St. Onge for his fourth goal of the year.

Murphy tied the game at 2 just 22 seconds later on a spectacular end to end rush. Ringwald blocked a shot and the puck caromed to Trevor Eckenswiller (Lions Head, Ontario/Oakville Blades) (Lions Head, Ontario) behind the RIT goal. He passed the puck to Murphy in the RIT corner, who skated from one end to the other, went around a Pioneers defenseman and slid the puck around St. Onge for his fifth goal of the year.

Murphy tallied his second of the period and sixth of the season with 2:40 left in the frame, taking a feed from Anton Kharin (Twin Lake, Mich./Bay State Breakers) (Moscow, Russia) on the rush and put the puck past St. Onge from in close to give RIT a 3-2 advantage.

RIT played a solid second period, getting several chances, but were unable to capitalize. A few Tiger defensive breakdowns led to two Sacred Heart goals and RIT found themselves down 4-3 after two periods of play.

The whistles were put away in the second period, as just one penalty was called.

Mike Rosata and Berube potted second period goals, both similar that they came right in front of the RIT net on breakdowns in close. Rosata scored at the 3:42 mark, while Berube's goal came at the 8:16 mark.

Raymond and Mike Janda (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Chicago Steel) (Chicago, IL) both had St. Onge beat with shots from the wing on the rush, but both glanced off the crossbar and out of play.

RIT held a 22-20 advantage in shots after 40 minutes of play.

The Tigers lead the all-time series between the two schools, 4-3-1. Sacred Heart leads the season series, 2-0-1. The two teams played in Sacred Heart on Oct. 24 and 25. RIT rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie Sacred Heart 3-3 behind two assists and some big saves from goaltender Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, Quebec/Ottawa Senators) (Chicoutimi, Quebec). The following night, Sacred Heart's Matt Gordon broke a 2-2 tie early in the third period and Stefan Drew stopped 41 shots as the Pioneers beat RIT 4-2.

Sophomore forward Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/Aurora Tigers) (King City, Ontario) had his Division I team-record tying 11-game point scoring streak snapped.  He shares the record with 2008 Hobey Baker Finalist #Simon Lambert (Ste.-Therese, PQ/Cumberland Grads)# (Ste. Therese, Quebec).

The Tigers dropped to second in the AHA standings after Air Force defeated Connecticut 3-2.  RIT trails Air Force by one point.

The two teams wrap up their season series on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.