Men's Hockey | 11/12/2010 9:43:27 PM

ROCHESTER, NY – Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) and Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers) each scored two goals to lead the RIT men's hockey team (3-5-1, 2-1-0 AHA) to a 6-2 win over Connecticut (2-2-3, 2-1-1 AHA) before a sellout crowd of 2,100 fans at Ritter Arena on Friday evening.

Scott Knowles (Riverside, Ontario/) and Chris Haltigin (Oakville, Ontario/) also scored for the Tigers, who are 2-0 at Ritter Arena this season. They have won eight straight at home dating back to last season.

Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) dished out three assists, giving him 99 points in his Tiger career. Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) and Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) had two assists apiece for the Tigers, whose six goals scored were a season-high.

RIT goaltender Jan Ropponen (Espoo, Finland/) picked up his second win of the season, stopping 24 shots.

Connecticut goaltender Garrett Bartus stopped 35 shots in a losing effort for the Huskies.  Alex Gerke and Jim Gallagher scored for Connecticut.

RIT went 2-for-5 with the man-advantage, while holding Connecticut to just one goal in seven power-play attempts. The Tigers out-shot Connecticut, 41-26.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was glad to be back home at Ritter Arena.

“I was pretty pleased with how we played and competed tonight,” said Wilson. “We finally broke though, which was a tough thing to do. It's good to be back home in front of our great fans. It makes a big difference.”

The two squads combined to score three power-play goals in the opening period, as RIT carried a 2-1 edge after 20 minutes of play.

The Tigers got on the board just 2:52 into the contest, on the power-play, as Haltigin bombed a slap shot past a screened Bartus for the goal. Favot and Lynch also assisted on the goal, Haltigin's first of the season.

Connecticut answered right back on the power-play, 59 seconds later, as Gerke finished a perfect passing play, taking a feed from Sean Ambroise on the back door and slipped the shot from in tight past Ropponen, who had no chance on the play. Cole Schneider also assisted on the goal.

Mitchell gave RIT a 2-1 lead at the 8:03 mark, taking a feed from Hartley in the neutral zone, blowing by a defenseman and slipping a backhander past Bartus on a breakaway for his second goal in two home games. Hartley poke-checked the puck away from a Connecticut forward in the RIT zone, and fed Mitchell, who did the rest.

Ropponen made his best save of the period later in the frame, robbing Andrew Olson, who one-timed a pass from the slot on a rush.

Bartus and Ropponen were both the story of the first 17 minutes of the second period, before RIT scored twice in a 1:38 late in the frame to take a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.

Bartus made a tremendous pad save on Lynch off a 2-on-1 in front, then robbed Mitchell on a partial breakaway moments later.

Ropponen came up big on Olson with just over three minutes left in the period, snaring a hard wrist shot with a quick glove hand.

The save seemed to energize RIT, who scored right after, as Knowles wristed what looked to be a harmless shot from the blue-line on the rush, handcuffing Bartus, bouncing off the goaltender's glove and in to give RIT its two-goal lead back. Hartley and Nolan Descoteaux (Dallas, TX/South Shore Kings) also assisted on the goal.

Brenner made a herculean move to put the Tigers up 4-1 with 1:02 left in the period, diving to score from his belly off a rebound from a shot by Lynch. Favot fed a pass to Brenner in the slot, whose initial shot was stopped by Bartus, the rebound came to Lynch in tight, who was also stopped. A second rebound was loose in front, and Brenner dove quickly to slide the puck in the open side for his seventh goal of the season.

RIT out-shot Connecticut 16-7 in the frame and held a 29-18 edge in shots after 40 minutes of play.

Gallagher cut the RIT lead to 4-2 early in the third period right after a Tiger power-play ended.

Mitchell tallied his second of the night at the 11:19 mark, jamming home a rebound in tight after attempts by Michael Colavecchia and Taylor McReynolds (Sherwood Park, Alberta/) were denied by Bartus.

Brenner recorded his second goal of the game, 1:35 later, taking a feed from Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) and backhanding the puck past Bartus for his seventh goal of the season. Noyes made a nifty move to sidestep a defender and find a cutting Brenner, who made a nice move to beat Bartus.  Favot also assisted on the goal.

That goal chased Bartus, who was relieved by Matt Grogan for the final seven minutes.

RIT is now 15-6-1 all-time against the Huskies. Last season, the Tigers were 5-1 against Connecticut, 4-0 at Ritter Arena. The Tigers eliminated Connecticut in the AHA Quarterfinals.

Earlier in the afternoon, RIT President Dr. Bill Destler introduced “Tiger Power Play—The Campaign for RIT Hockey” during an announcement inside Frank Ritter Arena, which preceded a men's hockey weekend home series against the University of Connecticut. The campaign's goal is $15 million and targets alumni and other supporters of RIT men's and women's hockey. It's expected a new arena—designed to accommodate 4,000 to 6,000 fans—will cost $25 million to $30 million. RIT plans to cover the remaining costs associated with construction of the facility.

RIT alumni Stephen Schultz '89 (computer science), co-founder and chief technical officer at Pictometry, and his wife Vicki Schultz '94, '99 (business administration, MBA) presented the campaign's opening gift of $1 million during today's announcement. A founding member of RIT's colorful Corner Crew cheering section, Stephen Schultz considers this donation an extension of his ongoing loyalty to the Tigers.

The two teams conclude their season series on Saturday night, once again at 7:05 p.m.