Men's Hockey | 11/11/2011 9:39:00 PM

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ROCHESTER, NY - Bryan Potts (Niagara Falls, Ontario/Markham Waxers) scored two goals, while Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) made 25 saves in his return in goal, as the RIT men's hockey team (3-3-2, 2-2-2 AHA) defeated Air Force (5-3-2, 4-1-1 AHA) in front of a sellout crowd of 2,100 fans at Ritter Arena on Friday evening.

Madolora, who had missed the last five games due to an NCAA suspension involving his eligibility, was strong all evening, allowing just a third period 5-on-3 power-play goal by Air Force's Tim Kirby.

Potts equaled his career high with a pair of goals, while line mate Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers) dished out a pair of assists.  Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) scored his first collegiate goal late in the third period, an empty-netter to put the game away.

RIT out-shot Air Force, 33-26.  Stephen Caple was very good in net for the Falcons, stopping 30 shots in defeat.  The loss snapped a seven-game unbeaten streak for the Falcons, as it was their first loss in league play.

The Tigers were 0-for-4 with the man-advantage, while Air Force was 1-for-5.  Air Force's power-play goal snapped a streak of 24 straight successful penalty kills for RIT.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson thought that this was his team's most consistent 60-minute effort of the season.

“We look at Air Force as a team who will be there in the end, and I thought we received a great effort from all four forward lines and three defensive units in a big win,” said Wilson.  “This win gives us some confidence, as we are on the right track.  Air Force is a very hard-working team and thought we did a great job fore-checking and our effort was very good tonight.”

RIT scored the lone goal of a quickly played, up and down, primarily even first period of play.

Potts tallied his third goal of the season at the 14:27 mark, pouncing on a loose puck in front of the Air Force net after the original shot by Mitchell was blocked by a Falcons defenseman.  The puck bounced right to Potts who was streaking towards the side of the net.  Potts made no mistake, beating Caple for the goal.

Otherwise, both goaltenders were strong, as RIT out-shot Air Force, 15-11.  Caple made a couple of big saves, including one on a shot by Chris Haltigin (Oakville, Ontario/) from the high slot.  Madolora was solid as well, making his best save on a tip attempt by George Michalke in tight midway through the frame.

RIT extended its lead by one in another hotly contested period of play to lead 2-0 after 40 minutes.

Just 2:49 into the period, Mitchell caused a turnover inside the Air Force zone and tipped a pass to Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies).  Colavecchia in turn, whipped a perfect cross-ice pass to Potts, who beat Caple inside the right post from the right side for his fourth tally of the season.

Caple had to a make a few huge saves later in the period to keep it a two-goal game.  His first big save came on Scott Knowles (Riverside, Ontario/) in front, who perfectly redirected a pass in front that Caple made a fine pad save on.  Late in the period, Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) fired a perfect cross-ice pass to Colvecchia who was alone in front.  The puck jumped on Colavecchia, but he was still able to get a shot off from in tight, and Caple dove across to keep it out.

The Tigers had a chance to put the game away midway through the period with a 1:26 two-man advantage, but could not generate any great chances.

Air Force received a two-man advantage of its own and Kirby fired a low shot from the blue-line that hit off a Tiger defenseman and eluded Madolora, who never saw the shot.

The Falcons kept coming at RIT, but the defense and Madolora held firm.

Garbowsky picked up a pass from Taylor McReynolds (Sherwood Park, Alberta/) in the neutral zone off hard work from Saracino on a defensive zone face-off and with Caple pulled for the empty-netter, fired the puck into the open net for his first goal.

RIT and Air Force has developed into one of the best and most competitive rivalries in all of college hockey, as the all-time series between the two schools, 14-14-3. Since the start of the 2005-06 season, RIT is 11-12-3 against Air Force. An astounding 17 of the last 26 meetings between the two schools have been a tie or decided by one goal. 

Between the first and second periods, RIT President Bill Destler declared that naming of the new RIT Ice Arena to be called the Gene Polisseni Center, after a $4.5 million partnership between the Polisseni Foundation and B. Thomas Golisano, founder and chairman of Paychex Inc., and an RIT trustee.

Gene Polisseni, who founded the Polisseni Foundation with his wife Wanda, served as vice president of marketing at Paychex until his death in 2001. Since that time, the foundation has focused its support toward improving quality-of-life issues related to education, human services and civic improvement across the Rochester region.

The $4.5 million commitment becomes the most recent and most significant gift in support of Tiger Power Play—The Campaign for RIT Hockey, which aims to raise $15 million of the total $30 million cost of construction for the new arena.

The Tigers continue their month-long home stand next weekend, as they host Holy Cross for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday.  Both games get underway at 7:05 p.m.