Men's Hockey | 12/3/2011 9:22:00 PM

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STORRS, CT – The RIT men's hockey team (6-5-2, 5-3-2 AHA) used a strong defensive effort to win its first road win of the season, defeating Connecticut, 2-1 at the Freitas Ice Forum on Saturday.
 
Despite mustering a season-low 17 shots, the Tigers held the Huskies at bay, keeping many chances to the perimeter and allowing just a single power-play goal.
 
RIT goaltender Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) was excellent in net for the Tigers, stopping 28 shots, his biggest coming with 1:56 left in regulation, as Cole Schneider slipped behind the defense and had a partial breakaway.  Schneider tried to go between the legs of Madolora, but the senior goaltender stood his ground and made a great save.
 
Jeff Smith (Spokane, WA/Tri-City Storm) and Mark Cornacchia (Unionville, Ontario/) scored for the Tigers, who improve to 18-7-1 all-time against Connecticut, and 13-5-1 since 2007.  RIT improves to 3-4-1 all-time at Freitas Ice Forum.
 
Connecticut out-shot RIT, 29-17, including 13-3 in the third period.  RIT was 0-for-2 on the power-play, while Connecticut was 1-for-4.  The three shots in the third are a season low for the Tigers.
 
RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was much more pleased with his team's effort last night.
 
“I thought we competed much harder tonight, doing a good job cycling the puck down low and generating chances,” said Wilson. “UCONN is an outstanding team and will be there (towards the top of the standings) at the end of the season.  We are happy to get a road split and need to take care of business at home.”
 
Both teams played close to the vest in a period dominated by strong defensive play, with RIT getting the only goal.  The Huskies came out and held RIT without a shot over the first seven minutes, but were unable to generate any major chances of their own.
 
Smith got RIT on the board at the 7:52 mark, converting a perfect feed from Brandon Thompson (Vancouver, British Columbia/Handsworth) to one-time a shot from the side of the net past Bartus for his first goal of the season.  Eliot Raibl (Vancouver, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires) fed Thompson along the side boards, who wheeled a perfect pass to Smith for the tally.
 
Both teams scored once in the second period, as RIT held its one-goal lead into the final 20 minutes of play.
 
Madolora had to come up with a pair of big saves in the period, stopping Schneider on a breakaway in the opening moments, then robbing Alex Winter with a great glove off a blast from the high slot on a power-play.
 
Right after that power-play ended, Cornacchia tallied his fourth goal of the season, taking a feed from Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) inside the blue-line and ripping a low hard shot past Bartus and just inside the right post.  Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) led the rush and fed Hartley in the neutral zone.  Hartley and Cornacchia came in on a 2-on-2 rush and were able to work the drop pass to perfection.
 
With 54 seconds left in the period, Connecticut got on the board with the man-advantage, as a centering feed from Schneider went off a RIT defenseman and bounced right to Harris, who was parked in front of Madolora.  Harris was able to get the puck around Madolora and in from in tight to cut the RIT lead in half.
 
The Tigers return to action next weekend, as they host American International in a pair of AHA contests on Friday and Saturday, both at 7:05 p.m.