Men's Hockey | 10/22/2011 9:41:00 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (1-2-1) dropped its second straight contest, falling to No. 12 Union, 5-0 in front of a sellout crowd at Ritter Arena on Saturday evening.  Union scored four first period goals, three on the power-play to put the game away early.

Jeremy Welsh scored two goals and added an assist for the Dutchmen, while Wayne Simpson, Kelly Zajac, and Josh Jooris also scored.

Union goaltender Troy Grosenick stopped all 23 shots he faced for his first career shutout, as Union out-shot the Tigers, 44-23.

RIT goaltender Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes), making his first collegiate start, shook off a tough start to play well and stop 39 shots.

Union was 3-for-7 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-7.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson thought that Union was clearly the better team this evening.

“Union was clearly the better team and it showed,” said Wilson.  “We looked a little shell shocked early on.  It was a tough night for us, as we were beat by a better team.  We were better as the game went on, but Union did a great job tonight.”

The Tigers got off to a rough start, allowing four first period power-play goals, three of which came with the man-advantage, while getting out-shot 18-5.

Simpson scored just 25 seconds into the game, as he was allowed to skate in from the neutral zone untouched and ripped a snap shot over the left glove of Ruby from in close.

Welsh scored the first of his two first period power-play goals at the 5:36 mark, slamming home a rebound after Ruby was taken out of the play by a Union skater, who fell into him.  Ruby made consecutive saves on Mat Bodie and Josh Jorris before the rebound came to Welsh who had an open net.

Zajac made it 3-0 blasting a shot under the crossbar after a shot by Shayne Gostisbehere glanced off Kyle Bodie and right to Zajac at the right face-off circle.

Welsh tallied his second of the game with 14 seconds left in the period on a 5-on-3 advantage.

Ruby was called upon to make a handful of big saves for RIT in the second period, as they killed off four Union power-plays.

RIT nearly got on the boards a few times late in the period.  Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies) ripped a shot that Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) tipped past Grosenick, but was swept away by Zajac before it crossed the line.

Moments later, Hartley fed a cross ice feed to Nolan Descoteaux (Dallas, TX/South Shore Kings) who was robbed by Grosenick.

Union made it 5-0 early in the third period, as Jooris beat Ruby with a wraparound to complete the scoring.

Grosenick made a big save on Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) from in tight off a rebound, then robbed Scott Knowles (Riverside, Ontario/) on a breakaway with three minutes left.

The loss was the worst at home in the Division I era for RIT, and worst overall at Ritter Arena since losing 9-4 to Elmira on Feb. 19, 1994. 

RIT has not scored a goal in 125 minutes at home this season.

The Tigers are 12-6-3 all-time against the Dutchmen. RIT and Union were strong Division II and III rivals in the 1980's and early 90's. They have faced each other five times since RIT moved to Division I, with Union holding a 4-0-1 advantage.  Last year, Union handed RIT its most lopsided loss of the season, 7-2 in Schenectady.

RIT returns to action on Friday, as they travel to Mercyhurst to play the Lakers in an Atlantic Hockey Association contest that gets underway at 7:05 p.m.