Men's Hockey | 12/10/2010 9:35:34 PM

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ERIE, PA – The RIT men's hockey team (7-7-2, 6-3-1 AHA) scored two third period goals to break a 2-2 tie and defeat Mercyhurst (5-8-1, 5-6-0 AHA) 4-2 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Friday. Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) scored the game-winning goal for the Tigers, who extend their unbeaten streak at Mercyhurst Ice Center to seven games (6-0-1).

Noyes flipped an innocent shot from behind the red line on goal, while the Tigers were changing on a power-play with 13:50 left in regulation. The puck took a funny hop in on Mercyhurst goaltender Ryan Zapolski and bounced over his shoulder for the goal, Noyes' second of the season. Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) and RIT goaltender Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) assisted on the goal. The assist was Madolora's first of his collegiate career.

Moments later, the RIT penalty-killing unit came up big, killing off 36 seconds of a Mercyhurst two-man advantage.

Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) sealed the game with his team-best 11th goal of the season, tallying on a wraparound with 7:04 left. Great work in the offensive zone by Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) and Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) set up the goal.

From there, RIT's defense and Madolora kept the Lakers at bay. Madolora made his best save of the game with 3:56 left, snaring a blast from Mercyhurst's Scott Pitt that was destined for the top left corner on a 2-on-1.

Madolora finished with 23 saves to improve to 5-0-1 this season, and 5-0-0 in AHA play. He also added his first career assist. Zapolski made 39 saves for Mercyhurst.

Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers), Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) also scored for the Tigers. Burt extended his point-scoring streak to seven games.

RIT out-shot Mercyhurst 43-25. It is fourth time in the last five games that RIT has fired at least 40 shots on goal.

Phil Ginand and Ryan Raven scored for the Lakers.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was pleased with his team's effort and was happy to get a few bounces.

“We got some bounces tonight and were able to capitalize on those,” said Wilson. “We also had plenty of good chances that we missed on. I thought we played very well 5-on-5 and in the third period, our penalty-killing unit did a great job when we needed it the most.”

RIT played a strong first period, scoring the game's only goal and holding a 14-6 edge in shots. Mitchell got the Tigers on the board just 2:27 into the contest, ripping a shot past Zapolski from the right face-off circle after a dump in by Eliot Raibl (Vancouver, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires) that took a weird carom off the back boards. Daniel Spivak (Thornhill, Ontario/) fed Raibl after a Tiger face-off win the neutral zone. Raibl's dump in, which looked to go around behind the net, bounced in the slot, catching Zapolski out of position. Mitchell was there to rip the shot in for his seventh goal of the season.

The assist was Raibl's first collegiate point.  It was also Spivak's second of his career, and first in the last 55 games.

The Tigers had a golden chance to go up 2-0 moments later, when Spivak's point shot was stopped by Zapolski, but the rebound came right to Scott Knowles (Riverside, Ontario/) in front. Knowles' backhand was marked for the top corner, but Zapolski made a great save to keep it a one-goal game.

Mercyhurst's best chance came midway through the period, when Brandon Coccimiglio went around a Tiger defenseman and fired a low wrist shot from the left wing that glanced off the right post.

RIT dominated play 5-on-5 for most of the second period, but unfortunately, Mercyhurst had three power-plays and were able to score twice to make it 2-2 after 40 minutes of play.

The Tigers made it 2-0 5:07 into the period, shorthanded, as Sean Murphy (Owatonna, MN/)'s great fore checking in the Mercyhurst zone set up Burt who was all alone in front. Burt chipped the puck past Zapolski from in tight for his third tally of the season.

Just after that RIT penalty expired, the Lakers cut the lead in half at the 5:58 mark, as Ginand took a feed from Raven, and was able to elude a poke-check by Madolora, sliding the puck under the RIT goaltender's legs.

RIT kept pressing, but Zapolski made a handful of big saves to keep it 2-1. He robbed Knowles on a partial breakaway midway through the frame.

Mercyhurst tied the game at 2-2, on the power-play at the 11:41 mark, as Raven ripped a shot from the left wing boards that trickled past Madolora. Nate Jensen and Jeff Terminesi assisted on the goal.

The Tigers out-shot the Lakers, 15-8 in the period and held a 29-14 edge in shots after 40 minutes of play.

RIT is now 26-13-4 all-time against the Lakers. RIT is 10-4-1 against the Lakers since moving to Division I in 2005-06. The two teams were ECAC West rivals from 1988-99.

The two teams meet once again on Saturday night to complete the season series at 7:05 p.m.