Men's Hockey | 3/19/2010 7:06:41 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (25-11-1) advanced to the Atlantic Hockey Championship game for the first time as a Division I program, after defeating Canisius (17-15-5), 4-0 in the first AHA semifinal at Blue Cross Arena on Friday afternoon. RIT has now won nine straight games and will face Sacred Heart in the championship game at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Blue Cross Arena.

The top-seeded Tigers recorded their eighth shutout of the season, which breaks a team record. RIT goaltender Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT/) picked up his sixth solo shutout of the season, stopping all 20 shots he faced. He was not tested often, but made a handful of great saves at important times.

DeMichiel lowered his goals against average to 2.03 on the season, and raised his save percentage to .920.

The Tigers have allowed just 12 goals during their nine-game winning streak. They have 39 goals during that stretch. RIT is now 16-3-0 since Jan. 8.

RIT scored twice in the first period, and once in the second and third periods. Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/), Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/), and Alan Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia/) scored power-play goals for RIT. Mike Janda (Glen Ellyn, IL/) added an even strength goal.

Favot added an assist, while Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) and Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/) each had two assists. Favot and Burt now both have 40 points apiece on the season to lead the squad.

Ringwald has 99 career assists, while Mazur now has 99 career points.

RIT's power-play was sensational, scoring three times in eight chances. The Tiger penalty-killing unit was equally as impressive, killing off all seven Canisius power-play attempts. RIT now has 23 power-play goals over its last 13 games.

The Tigers out-shot Canisius, 30-20.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was pleased with his team's play and relieved to get into the championship game.

“It was complete team effort for all 60 minutes,” said Wilson. “I think we weathered the storm well for the first few shifts. This was the first time in three seasons I thought we completely ready for this game. We were very focused.”

Dan Morrison made 26 saves for Canisius, who finish its season, 17-15-5.

The Tigers scored twice during an action-packed first period to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission. RIT dominated play 5-on-5, out-shooting Canisius, 18-6.

Canisius had an excellent chance to jump out to an early lead, just 40 seconds into the contest, as Scott Moser blocked an RIT pass and came in all alone on DeMichiel. Moser tried to go high with a backhand, but DeMichiel stayed with him and made a tremendous save.

RIT went on a power-play moments later and peppered the Canisius net, but Morrison made a handful of great saves, including one in tight on Brenner as the puck caromed off the boards to the side of the net.

Tyler Mazzei (Kelowna, British Columbia/) flipped a rebound in front off a scramble off the crossbar, keeping the game scoreless.

The Tigers could not convert on a minute of 5-on-3 power-play time, but finally got on the board at the 14:52 mark while on a 5-on-4 man-advantage. Brenner converted a perfect redirection of a shot by Ringwald from the left boards to give RIT a 1-0 lead. Haltigin also assisted on the goal, extending his point-scoring streak to seven straight games. The goal was Brenner's 11th of the season.

RIT went up 2-0 just 48 seconds later, as great work along the boards allowed Mark Cornacchia (Unionville, Ontario/) to feed the puck to Janda at the right point. Janda's shot went through a great screen set up by Taylor McReynolds (Sherwood Park, Alberta/) and eluded Morrison, who never saw the shot. The goal was Janda's fifth of the season.

The Tigers got themselves into the penalty trouble and were down two men for 1:06 spanning the end of the first and start of the second period.

DeMichiel made two huge saves on Preston Shupe at the end of the 5-on-3 right as the second period got underway.

RIT took a commanding 3-0 lead at the 8:41 mark, 11 seconds into a 5-on-3 power-play, as Favot finished off a nifty, three-way passing play at the side of the net for his 13th goal of the season.  Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) went point-to-point with Ringwald, who fired a one-touch pass to Favot, who was all alone in tight.

From there, RIT hit three posts to end the period. An errant Canisius clearing attempt hit Brenner's skate, got past Morrison, but went off the right post. Jeff Smith (Spokane, WA/Tri-City Storm) also hit the post towards the end of the period, faking out Morrison, but firing a high shot off the right post.

Mazur sealed the win for RIT late in the third period, as his blast from the high slot hit a Canisius defender and got past Morrison. The power-play goal was Mazur's eighth of the season. Favot and Burt assisted on the goal.

RIT's defense shut the door, keeping Canisius to the outside and off balance.

The Tigers snapped a five-game losing streak at Blue Cross Arena. RIT's nine-game winning streak is the longest currently in all of Division I.

RIT won the season series between the two schools, 3-0, outscoring the Golden Griffins, 17-4. The Tigers did not allow an even strength goal in all three meetings. The Tigers now leads the all-time series, 50-14-1, and are 11-4-0 against the Golden Griffins since the start of the 2005-06 season.

RIT is now 7-3 all-time in the postseason at the Division I level. They have scored at least four goals in nine of the 10 contests.

Patrick Knowlton scored with 42 seconds left in regulation to break a 1-1 tie and lift Sacred Heart to a 2-1 win over Air Force in the second semifinal.

The winner of Saturday's championship game gets an automatic berth into the NCAA Championship.