Men's Hockey | 1/29/2010 10:05:23 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (15-9-1, 15-3-1 AHA) moved into sole possession of first place in the AHA standings after defeating Bentley (10-12-3, 8-9-2 AHA) 4-1 in front of 1,692 fans at Ritter Arena on Friday night. Four different Tigers scored to lead a balanced offensive attack.

RIT goaltender Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT/) continued his amazing run, stopping 30 shots. He was especially strong in the third period when RIT was protecting the lead and had to kill off a five-minute major and two minutes of a 5-on-3 power-play in the third period.

DeMichiel is now 14-2-1 in AHA play this season, with a sparkling 1.53 goals against average and .941 save percentage. He lowered his overall goals against average to 2.05 in 2009-10, among the top-five nationally.  DeMichiel is has a six-game winning streak.  In his last five starts, DeMichiel has a 0.80 goals against average, and .967 save percentage.

Tyler Mazzei (Kelowna, British Columbia/) and Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) scored power-play goals for the Tigers, who now hold sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Hockey Standings, two points ahead of Air Force, who lost to Army, 4-2. Sean Murphy (Owatonna, MN/) and Mark Cornacchia (Unionville, Ontario/) scored third period goals to put the game away.

Seniors Stevan Matic (Burnaby, British Columbia/) and Brent Alexin (West Seneca, NY/) each had two assists for RIT.  Alexin played in his 100th career game this evening.

Erik Peterson scored the lone goal for Bentley with 12:47 left in the third period. The goal came on a 5-on-3 midway through the period. RIT was down 5-on-3 for a full two minutes and nearly killed the whole power-play off, but a shot from the point was deflected and bounced to Peterson in front, who tapped the puck in.

The Tigers still had just under two minutes of a 5-on-4 Bentley power-play to kill, and succeeded, with timely saves from DeMichiel and great work from the penalty killing units.

Murphy gave RIT its two goal lead back with 9:15 left, as he took a feed from Stevan Matic (Burnaby, British Columbia/) in the neutral zone, sped past a defenseman and slid the puck past Bentley netminder Joe Calvi for his second goal in two games, and fourth of the year.

Cornacchia put the game away, scoring an empty-net goal with nine seconds left. Matic and Alexin assisted on the goal. Alexin played in his 100th collegiate game this evening.

Bentley out-shot RIT, 31-27. RIT was 2-for-6 on the power-play and held Bentley to one goal in seven chances with the man-advantage.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was happy to get the win, but knows tomorrow's game will be a tough test as well.

“I thought we played well, especially over the first two periods,” said Wilson. “We ran into penalty problems in the third, but got some breathing room with the third goal. I thought at times we were a little too cute in 1-on-1 chances. I think we need to be better tomorrow night.”

RIT tallied the only goal of the opening period, with both teams firing 11 shots on net.

The Tigers jumped out to the 1-0 lead 5:39 into the contest on a nifty three-way passing play right before a Bentley penalty expired.  Murphy came into the zone, and faked a shot, getting a defender to drop. Murphy fed Chris Haltigin (Oakville, Ontario/), who was streaking towards the net on the left side. Haltigin then fired a quick pass in front to Mazzei and wired the pass into the open net for his fifth goal of the season.

DeMichiel made a few big glove saves in the period to keep the lead, including one early in the frame on Peterson.

Both teams played strong defensively in the second period, as just 14 total shots were fired on net, seven by both sides.

RIT tallied the only goal of the period, on an abbreviated power-play. Alexin did a great job to keep the puck in the zone and fed Chris Tanev (Toronto, Ontario/), who was going towards the net on the right side. He fired a shot that got past Calvi, was slowly going towards the goal line, and was smacked in by Hartley for his fifth tally of the year. The goal came right after a penalty to Murphy expired.

RIT has won nine straight at home against AHA foes, out-scoring them 40-12 during that span. The Tigers have allowed just 31 goals in 19 AHA games (1.61 per game) this season, and are in top-10 nationally in goals against average.

RIT is 10-3-1 all-time against the Falcons and 8-2-1 since 2005. RIT has won five straight at home against the Falcons. Last season, the Tigers posted 4-2 and 3-2 wins at Bentley.

The two teams conclude the weekend series on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Tomorrow, RIT will “Make the Rink Pink” and wear pink jerseys in an effort to cure cancer. The game is already sold out.

“I am very excited for tomorrow night,” said Wilson. “It will be great to raise as much money as possible for a great cause, but more importantly, we have to win the game.”