Men's Hockey | 11/3/2012 7:42:00 PM

Box Score Click here for game stats

WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA - Junior goaltender Josh Watson (Lititz, PA/Powell River Kings) stopped all 19 shots he faced for his first collegiate shutout, as the RIT men's hockey team (2-4-1, 1-1-1 AHA) blanked American International (2-4-1, 0-2-1 AHA) at the Olympia Ice Center on Saturday evening.

Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies), Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers), Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) scored for the Tigers, who out-shot American International, 36-19, including 27-11 over the final two periods. Saracino added an assist for a multi-point effort.

The win snapped RIT's five-game winless streak.

Watson, who entered the game with a 4.36 goals against average, was solid in net to pick up his second win of the season, and was helped out by a tremendous defensive effort by the squad, as the Tigers limited the Yellowjackets to just a few good chances all evening. Watson's goals against average dropped to 3.27.

American international goaltender Ben Meisner was excellent in net for the second straight evening, stopping 33-of-36 shots. He made several big saves from point-blank range.

RIT was 1-for-7 with the man-advantage and held the Yellowjackets scoreless on three power-play attempts. It was the first game this season that RIT did not allow a power-play goal.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was much happier with his team's effort this evening.

"I thought we were good offensively, give credit to their goaltender, who made some great saves tonight," said Wilson. "Defensively, we were outstanding, I thought we moved the puck well and passed well in transition all game. We played with a lot of poise and confidence tonight. We will take the three-points on the weekend and want to continue to improve."

The Tigers jumped on the board at the 11:24 mark, on the power-play, as Colavecchia fired a rocket from the right face-off circle that seemed to deflect off a Yellowjacket stick and over the shoulder of Meisner for his first goal of the year. Off a face-off, Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) won a loose puck battle bacl to Saracino who crossed to middle and fed Colavecchia, who one-timed the shot in for the tally.

The Yellowjackets made a strong push right after, as Watson was forced to make a big save on Chris Porter off the ensuing face-off. Moments later, Porter thought he had Watson beat from the slot, but the puck rang off the crossbar.

Mitchell tallied his fourth goal of the season and fourth in his last three contests, firing a shot past Meisner off a face-off win by Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) from the left wing. Jeff Smith (Spokane, WA/Tri-City Storm) also assisted on the goal, giving him a team-high nine points on the season. 

RIT dominated the second period, controlling the majority of play and tallied once to make it a 3-0 game after 40 minutes of play.

At the 9:53 mark, Saracino fired a shot that went off the back boards, off the back of Meisner and in for the senior captain's second goal of the season. Anthony Hamburg (Phoenix, AZ/Omaha Lancers) won a face-off back to Eliot Raibl (Vancouver, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires) at the right point, who fed Saracino at the left point. With traffic in front, Saracino's one-timer eluded the goaltender.

The Tigers had two more chances to go up 4-0 later in the period, but Meisner made huge saves from point blank range on Bryan Potts (Niagara Falls, Ontario/Markham Waxers) and Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles).

RIT did a tremendous job limiting any offensive push from the Yellowjackets in the third period, allowing just five shots on goal. Watson's best save of the period came on a shot from the slot from Jason Popek with about five miinutes left that the goaltender calmly smothered.

Last night, the two teams skated to a 2-2 tie. Mitchell and Brad Reid (Delta, British Columbia/Coquitlam Express) scored goals for RIT, who out-shot AIC, 43-31. Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) recorded a pair of assists. Meisner was superb in net for the Yellowjackets, stopping 41 shots. Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) made 29 saves in the tie for the Tigers.

Before the weekend series, RIT had allowed 26 goals in five games this season (5.2 per game). After the two-game set, RIT is now allowing 4.0 goals per game.

RIT is now 20-3-2 all-time against the Yellowjackets, 17-3-1 since moving to Division I in 2005. The Tigers have outscored AIC 90-35 in those 21 contests. RIT is 8-2-1 all-time at the Olympia Ice Arena.

RIT returns home for a pair of AHA home contests next weekend. On Friday, RIT hosts Mercyhurst at 7:05 p.m., then hosts Canisius on Saturday, also at 7:05 p.m.