Men's Hockey | 2/12/2010 9:31:08 PM

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WEST POINT, NY – Goaltender Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT/) made 25 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season, behind a tremendous defensive effort, as the RIT men's hockey team (17-11-1, 17-5-1 AHA) upended Army by a score of 3-0 on Friday evening before 2,139 fans at Tate Rink.

RIT now has 35 points and holds a five-point lead in the Atlantic Hockey standings with five games to play.

The Tigers had their streak scoring at least four goals snapped at six games, but used an overpowering defensive effort, allowing just 10 even strength shots in three periods of play. DeMichiel was not overly tested after the first period, as he recorded his 16th win of the season, lowering his goals against average to 2.20 on the season. In AHA play, he is 16-4-1 with a 1.81 goals against average and .931 save percentage.

Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/), Mike Janda (Glen Ellyn, IL/), and Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) scored for RIT. Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) added two assists.

The defensive core of Ringwald, Chris Tanev (Toronto, Ontario/), Daniel Spivak (Thornhill, Ontario/), Alan Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia/), Chris Haltigin (Oakville, Ontario/), and Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) played one of its best games of the season, frustrating the Army forwards all game long.

Both teams penalty-killing were tremendous, as RIT was 1-for-9 with the man-advantage, and Army was scoreless in seven power-play attempts.

RIT out-shot Army, 36-25. Army netminder Jay Clark was solid in net, stopping 33 shots.

The Tigers had to kill off three straight penalties to start the third period, and did so in dominating fashion, allowing little in the way of quality chances.

Janda gave RIT the all-important two goal lead with just 6:07 left, ripping a low shot from the right face-off circle in the rush between the legs of Clark for his second goal of the year. Mark Cornacchia (Unionville, Ontario/) broke up a clearing attempt in the neutral zone and fed Janda. Janda came in with Taylor McReynolds (Sherwood Park, Alberta/) on a 2-on-2 rush and fired the puck in to give RIT the 2-0 lead.

Just 29 seconds later, Favot took a perfect feed from Brenner on a 2-on-1 and ripped a shot past a sliding Clark just inside the right post to make it 3-0 RIT. Tyler Mazzei (Kelowna, British Columbia/), started the rush, and also assisted on the goal, Favot's 10th of the season.

Favot now has 13 points (5-8-13) over his last seven games. Brenner has eight points (3-5-8) over his last four contests.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was thrilled with his team's effort for all 60 minutes.

“I thought we played really well, especially 5-on-5,” said Wilson. “Most of their chances early came on the power-play. In the second period, we had a lot of power-play time and were effective, despite only getting one goal. I thought their goaltender was great in the period for them. Our penalty-killing saved the best for last in the third, and we got two nice goals late to put the game away. That's a big road win against a tough home team in Army.”

Neither team scored in an exceptionally fast first period of play that took just 26 minutes. Mazzei nearly opened the scoring on the second shift of the game, ringing a shot off the crossbar through a screen from the high slot.

Army recorded seven of its 11 first period shots on two power-plays, keeping RIT hemmed in its own zone for most of the play. DeMichiel made a handful of tough saves from point-blank range and was able to keep Army off the board.

Brent Alexin (West Seneca, NY/) just missed scoring on a shorthanded 2-on-1, as he tried to sneak the puck around Clark from in tight, but was denied. Favot circled the net with Clark out of position, but his centering pass was blocked in close on a power-play. RIT fired just seven shots on net over the opening 20 minutes of play.

The Tigers had six second period power-plays and out-shot Army 19-5 in the period, but could tally just one time thanks to tremendous goaltending by Clark.

Ringwald got RIT on the board 9:30 into the period, as he snapped a shot from the left face-off circle through Clark just inside the left post to give RIT a 1-0 lead. Favot fed Brenner down low. Brenner tried to slide the puck in from in tight, but the rebound caromed to Ringwald, who buried his eighth goal of the season.

Moments later, RIT had three glorious chances on one shift, but Clark came up big to keep the game at 1-0. McReynolds had a point-blank chance off a great feed from Cornacchia that Clark stonewalled. Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) had two chances, slipping behind a defenseman and cutting in before getting stopped by Clark. The rebound came behind the net and was dished back to Burt in front. Once again, Clark came out of nowhere to keep the puck out.

The Tigers had 27 and 30 seconds of 5-on-3 power-plays time the period, but could not score during either attempt.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 6-2-3.

Tonight's meeting was third of four this seasons between the two schools. RIT is 3-0 this season against the Black Knights. On Nov. 6-7, RIT swept the Black Knights by scores of 6-1 and 2-1 at Ritter Arena. In the first contest, the line of Scott Knowles (Riverside, Ontario/), Burt, and Sean Murphy (Owatonna, MN/) combined for nine points. The next night, Favot scored the game-winning goal with 2:46 left in the third period, breaking a 1-1 tie, lifting RIT to a 2-1 win.

The Tigers and Black Knights conclude their regular season series on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.