Men's Hockey | 10/8/2010 8:16:55 PM

Click for Box Score

OMAHA, NE – The 18th ranked RIT men's hockey team began the 2010-11 regular season with a 3-1 loss to #4 St. Cloud State in the opening game of the Mutual of Omaha Stampede hosted by the University of Nebrask-Omaha at the Qwest Center Omaha.

RIT was out-shot by the Huskies 34-27. The Tigers were 0-for-2 in the power play and held St. Cloud to 0-6 with the man advantage.

“I thought it was a well played game,” said RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson. “It's a great starting point for our team. We played with a lot of effort, we just made some mistakes that cost us.”

After a slow start, RIT created some solid scoring chances, finishing the first period strong with nine shots on net. Senior Sean Murphy (Owatonna, MN/) had a chance early in the period. He took a pass from Jeff Smith (Spokane, WA/Tri-City Storm) in the slot, and just as he was about to fire a shot, a St. Cloud defender checked the puck off of Murphy's stick causing the shot to go wide.

Senior goaltender Jan Ropponen (Espoo, Finland/), making his first regular season start, had a strong first period, stopping all eight shots he faced. RIT out-shot the Huskies 9-8 after starting the period down in shots 6-2. The Tigers were 0-for-2 on the power play and St. Cloud State was 0-for-1.

St. Cloud State took a 1-0 lead with 6:17 remaining in the second period. The Huskies Nick Oslund broke into the RIT zone and fired a shot. Ropponen made the initial save, but the rebound came right back to Oslund who tucked the puck into the near corner.

RIT took four penalties in the second period, killing off all four. Ropponen made a strong save at the end of the second with St. Cloud on the power play. St. Cloud freshman Mitch MacMillan found himself alone in the slot. Ropponen stuck his glove out and made the spectacular save to keep the deficit at one for the Tigers. RIT was out-shot 13-6 in the second period.

RIT tied the score at 2:45 of the third period on Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles)'s first goal of the season. On a scrum in front of the St. Cloud net. Junior Scott Knowels had two whacks at the puck. The second rebound came to Hartley who jammed home the puck to tie the score at 1-1. Junior Chris Haltigin (Oakville, Ontario/) also had an assist oon the play.

St. Cloud re-took the lead with 9:39 remaining in the third period. Ben Hanowski had two shots from in close that Ropponen saved. The loose puck came back to the point. Bryce Johnson fired a shot that Hanowski deflected into the net for a 2-1 lead.

RIT had a great chance with 2:45 remaining in regulation when Scott Knowles (Riverside, Ontario/) fed a pass across the goal mouth to Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers). His one-timer was tipped aside by St. Cloud goaltender Mike Lee.

"We had some chances in the third," said Wilson. "We just couldn't bury them.

The Huskies added an empty-net goal 27 seconds remaining to put the game away.

Ropponen made 11 saves in the third including a big save on MacMillan who broke in on a break early in the third. Six of his 11 saves in the third came from point-blank range. He finishes with 31 stops on the night.

“I thought Jan played well,” said Wilson. “He made some big stops that kept us in the game.”

RIT will face the host University of Nebraska-Omaha on Saturday night at 8:07 pm in game two of the Mutual of Omaha Stampede.