Men's Hockey | 2/13/2010 9:38:19 PM

Click here for game stats

WEST POINT, NY – Stevan Matic (Burnaby, British Columbia/) and Tyler Mazzei (Kelowna, British Columbia/) scored two goals apiece, while sophomore forward Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) dished out a career-best four assists to lead the RIT men's hockey team (18-11-1, 18-5-1 AHA) to a 5-2 win over Army (10-15-5, 9-11-4 AHA) on Saturday evening before a capacity crowd at Tate Rink.

RIT now has 37 points and holds a six-point lead in the Atlantic Hockey standings with four games to play. A win next Friday at home against Air Force would clinch RIT's third AHA regular season title in the last four seasons.

The Tigers led 3-2 late in the third period before Matic took a feed from Burt in the slot and ripped a one-timer by Army goaltender Jay Clark to put RIT up 4-2 with 7:21 left. The goal was Matic's seventh of the year.

RIT salted the game away with 1:20 left, as Mazzei buried an empty net goal, his seventh of the season.

Once again, RIT's defense was excellent in the third period, holding Army at bay to earn the victory.

Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) also scored for RIT. Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) added three assists, while Sean Murphy (Owatonna, MN/) dished out a pair of helpers.

Favot now has 14 points (6-8-14) over his last eight games. Brenner has 11 points (3-8-11) over his last five contests. Burt now has 12 points (4-8-12) over his last five games.

RIT goaltender Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT/) was strong in net for RIT, stopping 22 shots for his 17th win of the season. He made a couple of big saves early in the third period to protect RIT's one-goal lead. He is now 17-4-1 in AHA play this season.

RIT out-shot Army, 34-24. RIT was 2-for-4 with the man-advantage, while Army was 1-for-6. The Black Knights did not have a power-play over the final 39 minutes of play.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was glad to get the weekend sweep against a quality opponent.

“I thought we limited the number of shots they had in the first period, with all things considered,” said Wilson. “We scored some great goals, not only tonight, but over the entire weekend. We are getting great contributions from everyone in the lineup right now.”

RIT led 2-0 after one period of despite having to kill more than 10 minutes in penalties.

Favot got RIT on the board, 7:21 into the contest, on the power-play for his 11th goal of the season. Ringwald took a shot from the point that was tipped wide by Brenner. Brenner fed Burt in the corner. Burt slipped a pass to a cutting Favot in the slot. Favot eluded one defenseman and slipped a perfect backhander over the shoulder of Clark, just under the crossbar for the goal.

Matic gave RIT a 2-0 lead at the 10:04 mark, converting off a rebound from a point shot by Murphy that got through traffic for his sixth goal of the season. Burt also assisted on the goal.

Brenner nearly gave RIT a 3-0 lead late in the frame, as his turnaround shot from the slot dinged off the inside of the post, past Clark, and out.

Both teams fired 10 shots during the first period. RIT had to kill off five full power-plays over the opening 20 minutes and had a sixth carry over into the second period.

Army got right back into the game, 57 seconds into the second period, as a point shot by Marcel Alvarez got through and bounced off the body of Omilusik, and past DeMichiel to cut the RIT lead to 2-1.

At the 9:01 mark, Mazzei potted his sixth goal of the season, on the power-play to give RIT its two goal lead back. Burt outmuscled a defenseman for the puck in the corner, but lost the puck right to Brenner. Brenner found a streaking Mazzei in front, who one-timed the pass from in close past Clark for the 3-1 lead.

RIT nearly made it 4-1 a few minutes later, as Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) appeared to bat a rebound off a shot by Murphy past Clark. Unfortunately for RIT, it was ruled that Hartley hit the puck out of the air with a high-stick, so the goal was disallowed.

The Black Knights cut RIT's lead in half, once again, at the 15:21 mark, as Cody Ikkala's point shot found its way through a screen and past DeMichiel to the far right corner of the net, making the score 3-2.
RIT out-shot Army, 15-6 in the period.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 7-2-3.

The Tigers swept the season series against the Black Knights, winning all four games by a combined score of 16-4.

Last night, the Tigers used a dominant defensive effort to shutout Army, 3-0. DeMichiel made 25 saves to earn his fourth shutout of the season. Ringwald, Mike Janda (Glen Ellyn, IL/), and Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) scored for RIT. Brenner added two assists.

On Nov. 6-7, RIT swept the Black Knights by scores of 6-1 and 2-1 at Ritter Arena.

The Tigers return home next weekend to play the Air Force Falcons in what should be a hotly contested two-game series. Both Friday and Saturday's games will begin at 7:05 p.m.