Men's Hockey | 3/20/2010 10:15:27 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (26-11-1) won its first Atlantic Hockey Association Championship in resounding fashion, defeating second-seeded Sacred Heart (21-13-4), 6-1 before 3,298 fans at Blue Cross Arena on Saturday. RIT has now won 10-straight games and go to the NCAA Tournament for the first time as a Division I program. Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) was named the Atlantic Hockey Tournament MVP.

The Tigers advanced to the 16-team NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002, and will find out where and when they will play next on Sunday morning. ESPN2 will air the 2010 NCAA Selection Show on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

Burt set a career-high and tied a Division I team record with five points on a goal and four assists. He had seven points in the two-game series. The sophomore forward now leads the team with 45 points (15-30-45) and has 27 points (6-21-27) over his last 13 games. He now has 17 points in nine career games against Sacred Heart.

Sean Murphy (Owatonna, MN/) scored two goals and added an assist. Jeff Smith (Spokane, WA/Tri-City Storm) added a goal and an assist. Mark Cornacchia (Unionville, Ontario/) tallied a short-handed goal, while Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) also scored a power-play goal for RIT.

Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/) dished out a pair of assists, including the 100th of his tremendous career at RIT.

RIT goaltender Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT/) was named to the All-Tournament Team after stopping 33 shots on the evening. He made 53 saves on 54 shots in the two game series. DeMichiel made a handful of sensational saves, especially early on. He picked up his national best 25th win and lowered his goals against average to 2.00 on the season. He also tied a Division I program record with his 39th career win.

The Tigers have allowed just 13 goals in their last 10 games. They have outscored their foes 45-13 during the streak. The 13 goals allowed are the fewest allowed over a 10-game stretch.

RIT's power-play scored twice on four attempts. They have scored a power-play goal in 14 straight games. RIT is 25-for-92 during that stretch. The Tiger penalty-killing unit killed off all three Sacred Heart power-plays.

RIT broke the game wide open with three second period goals.

The Tigers have allowed just 13 goals during the 10-game winning streak. They have 45 goals during that stretch. RIT is now 17-3-0 since Jan. 8.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was ecstatic with the way the weekend turned out and what the Tigers have accomplished in such a short time.

“RIT has a great hockey tradition and tonight was another step in that tradition,” said Wilson, who makes his fourth NCAA Tournament Appearance as RIT head coach. “The difference in the night was Jared's (DeMichiel) big save early and the shorthanded goal late in the first period.

The first period was evenly played with Sacred Heart having several good chances. RIT struck twice using the special teams to its advantage with a power-play and shorthanded goal to lead 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.

Much like last night, DeMichel was called on to make a huge save early and he did just that robbing Erik Boisvert with a lightning quick glove save off a rebound in tight just 51 seconds in.

The Tigers received a break right after, as David Berube slammed Tyler Mazzei (Kelowna, British Columbia/) head first into the boards. Berube was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct, just 1:48 into the contest.

RIT tallied just 28 seconds into the power-play, as Burt slammed in his own rebound off a tremendous diagonal feed from Ringwald. Burt actually hit the post with his first attempt, but rebound came right back to him, and this time he converted for his 15th goal of the season. Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) also assisted on the goal.

The goaltenders ruled the next 17 minutes, making big saves to keep the game 1-0.

RIT converted a shorthanded attempt with 19 seconds left in the period, as Cornacchia slammed in a rebound for his seventh goal of the season, Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers), Mike Janda (Glen Ellyn, IL/), and Cornacchia broke in on a 3-on-1. Saracino's first shot was stopped by Legatto. His rebound went off the crossbar, then bounced to Janda, whose shot was stopped. Cornacchia was there to jam home the loose puck.

Burt made a tremendous goal mouth feed to a streaking Murphy, who slid the puck past a sliding Legatto for a 3-0 RIT lead just 1:08 into the second period. Saracino also assisted on the goal, Murphy's fifth of the year.

DeMichiel made a handful of big saves during a Sacred Heart power-play moments later.
Smith gave RIT a 4-0 lead at the 12:08 mark, coming in with Murphy on a 2-on-1, snapping a hard wrist shot past Legatto on the stick side. Burt also assisted on the goal, as he helped start the rush with a steal in the neutral zone.

Brenner capped off the scoring in the second period, ripping a wrist shot from inside the left face-off circle over the shoulder of Legatto on the power-play. Burt and Ringwald assisted on the goal, Brenner's 12th of the season, and second of the weekend. It came with 56 seconds left in the period.

Sacred Heart broke DeMichiel's shutout bid 3:48 into the final frame, as Eric DeLong slipped in a feed from Erik Boisvert from in tight to make it 5-1.

Murphy put the finishing touch on the historic night, scoring his second goal of the game with 2:04 left off assists from Smith and Burt to complete the scoring.

Last night, the Tigers snapped a five-game losing streak at Blue Cross Arena, defeating Canisius in the AHA Semifinal, 4-0. RIT's 10-game winning streak is the longest currently in all of Division I.

RIT won the season series between the two schools, 4-1, outscoring the Pioneers, 23-13. The Tigers now leads the all-time series between the two schools, 9-4-1. Sacred Heart was the last team to beat RIT, 5-4 on Feb. 6.

RIT is now 8-3 all-time in the postseason at the Division I level. They have scored at least four goals in nine of the 11 contests.

Below is the AHA Tournament All-Tournament Team
MVP – Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/), So., RIT
F – Patrick Knowlton, Jr., Sacred Heart
F – Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/), So., RIT
F – Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/), So., RIT
D – Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/), Sr., RIT
D – Chris Tanev (Toronto, Ontario/)., Fr., RIT
G – Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT/), Sr., RIT