Men's Hockey | 1/14/2011 10:27:27 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY - Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) scored two goals, as the RIT men's hockey team (12-8-3, 11-3-2 AHA) scored four times in the first 23:47 of the contest to jump out to a 4-0 lead and defeat visiting Bentley (5-11-3, 4-8-2 AHA), 4-1 before a sellout crowd at Ritter Arena on Friday.RIT now has a seven-game unbeaten streak in AHA play (6-0-1).

Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) and Mark Cornacchia (Unionville, Ontario/) also scored for the Tigers, who have a 13-game unbeaten streak (12-0-1)  at Ritter Arena against AHA foes. Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) dished out a pair of assists. 

RIT killed off all seven Bentley power-attempts and scored a shorthanded goal for the second time in three games. The Tigers have now killed off 22 straight power-play attempts. The Tigers were 0-for-9 on the power-play, including 3:54 of two-man advantage time in the contest.

RIT out-shot Bentley, 40-27. RIT goaltender Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) made 26 saves to improve to 10-0-2 this season. He was part of a strong Tiger defensive unit that played extremely well. Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) and Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) were the second and third stars of the game, respectively.

Justin Breton scored Bentley's lone goal, a shorthanded tally with 5:37 left in the second period. Kyle Rank stopped 14 shots and allowed four goals in 25:20 before being pulled. Joe Calvi stopped all 22 shots he faced in relief.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was happy with his team's performance.

“I was really happy with our play until (Bentley) changed their goalie,” said Wilson. “Our penalty killing was really good tonight, although I thought our power-play unit was poor. Defensively, we were strong for 60 minutes. Bentley played very well after the goalie change, and we know they will come out strong tomorrow night.”

The Tigers struck three times in a 6:36 span in the first period to take control early.

Brenner netted his team-best 17th goal of the season at the 10:55 mark of the period, ripping a backhand from the slot just under the crossbar to give RIT the lead. Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) fed Noyes inside the Bentley zone, who sidestepped a pair of defenders to find an open Brenner. The pass was behind Brenner, but he made a great play to keep the puck on his stick and was able to beat Rank.

Favot made it 2-0, just as Bentley went on the power-play, as he took a feed from Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) in the neutral zone as Burt went off on a change. Favot eluded two defensemen and fired a shot that Rank stopped. Favot gloved the high rebound off Rank and then batted the loose puck in from his waist in midair for his eighth goal of the year. The officials originally waived off the goal, but then huddled and reversed the call.

Just 1:13 later, Cornacchia tallied his second goal of the year to make it 3-0. #Sean Murphy fed Saracino at the right point. Saracino walked in and feathered a perfect pass the Cornacchia was able to tip in past Rank from in close.

Favot then scored his second goal of the game just 3:47 into the second, completing a nifty passing play from Lynch and Brenner for his ninth of the season. Brenner fed Lynch in the neutral zone, and skated into the Bentley zone. Lynch fired a pass to a streaking Favot in the slot, and the senior forward one-timed a well placed shot past Rank and just inside the right post.

Breton redirected a feed from Joe Campanelli just as RIT went on a power-play past Madolora with 5:37 left in the second period for his second goal of the year.

Burt is now just five points shy of 100 for his career. Madolora lowers his goals against average to 1.92 on the season and raises his save percentage to .937. He is 10-0-1 with a 1.62 goals against average and .948 save percentage in AHA play this season.

The Tigers are 21-1-1 against AHA opponents at home dating back to the start of the 2009-10 season. Their lone loss was to Bentley on “Make the Rink Pink” night, Jan. 30, 2010.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 11-4-1. RIT is 9-3-1 against Bentley since the start of the 2006-07 season.

The same two teams meet once again on Saturday evening at 7:05 p.m.