Men's Hockey | 11/10/2012 9:45:00 PM

Box Score

ROCHESTER, NY – Canisius (2-5-3, 1-1-1 AHA) scored three unaswered goals in the third period to hand the RIT men's hockey team (2-6-1, 1-3-1 AHA) its third straight home loss to start the 2012-13 season, 6-3 in front of a sellout crowd at Ritter Arena on Saturday evening.

With the game tied at 3-3, Patrick Sullivan stole the puck away from a Tiger defenseman behind the RIT net, wheeled out in front and took a bad angle shot that got through RIT goaltender Josh Watson (Lititz, PA/Powell River Kings) to the short side with 12:32 left to give the Golden Griffins the 4-3 lead.

RIT pressured, but could not get the tying goal. Preston Shupe and Mitch McCrank added empty-net tallies in the final 1:25 to seal the win.

Sullivan led the Golden Griffins with two goals and an assist. Kyle Gibbons added a goal and an assist, while Taylor Law also scored for Canisius. In net, Tony Capobianco made 36 saves to record his first win of the season.

RIT has now lost three straight home games for the first time since losing four straight during the 2005-06 season. The Tigers also failed to record a point during an Atlantic Hockey Association home weekend series for the first time and have lost three home games in league play for the first time since joining in 2006-07.

RIT has allowed 17 goals in its three home losses this season.

Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers) led the Tigers with a career-high three points on a goal and two assists. He now has a team-best 11 points in eight games and nine points (5-4-9) over a six-game point-scoring streak.

Jeff Smith (Spokane, WA/Tri-City Storm) and Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) also scored for the Tigers. In net, Watson made 30 saves to fall to 2-3-0.

RIT out-shot Canisius, 39-36. The Tigers were 1-for-4 with the man-advantage, scoring a power-play tally for the sixth straight game. RIT is now 8 for its last 20 with the man-advantage. Canisius was 0-for-2 on the power-play.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson knows his team has to improve to be successful this season.

"We had two bad starts in the first two periods and when have a (defensive) lapse, the puck is in the back of our net," said Wilson. "We dug ourselves a hole early but came back and did some good things, not enough however to win. The effort is there, but we have to concentrate more, especially on the defensive end."

For the second straight night, neither team was whistled for a penalty over the opening period in which the two teams combined for 31 shots in a 1-1 draw.

Canisius stunned the Ritter faithful by scoring just 12 seconds into the contest, a school record for fastest goal from the start of the game. A Tiger defenseman slipped at his own blue line, allowing Sullivan to come in on the left wing on a 2-on-1. He fired a shot that Watson stopped, but the rebound came right to Gibbons, who tapped the puck in for the goal, his first of the season.

Watson had to make two big saves shortly after to keep it 1-0 Golden Griffins. He robbed Gibbons on a point-blank chance about three minutes in, then robbed McCrank in close about a minute later from in close.

The Tigers thought they had tied the game about five minutes in, as a shot from Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) looked to have Capobianco beat, but somehow, it stayed out of the net. On the ensuing scrum, Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers) put the puck in, but the referee's whistle already blew the play dead.

RIT tallied the tying goal at the 8:05 mark on a great individual play by Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers), leading to Smith's team-best fifth goal of the year. Mitchell grabbed a loose puck in his own zone, flew through the neutral zone with a full head of steam, and just as he was about to get hit, fired a shot from the right face-off dot that Capobianco stopped. The rebound came right to Smith, who was crashing the net and the senior forward shoveled the puck in for the tally.

Both teams scored twice in a row in a wild second period, which featured 27 shots.

Canisius scored twice in a span of 1:08 over the first 1:34 of the frame to take a 3-1 lead.

Sullivan put in his own rebound off a 2-on-1 rush just 26 seconds into the frame off a feed from Doug Beck. Law took a feed from Tyler Wiseman on a 2-on-1 1:08 later and roofed a shot over Watson, who was trying to go post to post.

Capobianco robbed Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) on a partial breakaway right after Canisius' second goal.

RIT answered back with two quick goals of their own, 3:25 apart late in the period.

At the 14:48 mark, Lynch won a face-off, with Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers) diving to shovel the puck back to Saracino at the point. The senior defenseman took two steps to the middle at the point and wristed a seeing eye shot through traffic and past Capobianco, who was screened. The goal was Saracino's third of the year.

RIT recorded a power-play goal in its sixth straight game at the 18:13 mark, as Mitchell ripped a shot from the slot past Capobianco for his fifth tally of the season. Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies) fed Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) down low, who centered the pass to Mitchell in the slot. Mitchell went high over the glove of Capobianco.

RIT is now 55-16-1 all-time against the Golden Griffins and 16-6-0 since the start of the 2005-06 season. The two teams will close out the regular season against each other on March 1 in Rochester and March 2 in Buffalo.

The loss snapped RIT's seven-game home winning streak against Canisius, dating back to Feb. 2, 2007. Canisius had scored just 10 goals in its first nine games before tonight.

Last night, RIT fell to Mercyhurst, 5-3. Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) had a goal and an assist to lead RIT. The game was tied at 3-3 heading into the third period before Mercyhurst scored twice ti earn the win.

RIT is back in action next Saturday and Sunday, as they travel to Holy Cross to play a pair of afternoon games. Both contests begin at 3:05 p.m.