Men's Hockey | 12/3/2012 12:22:00 AM

Box Score

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – The RIT men's hockey team (2-8-3, 1-5-2 AHA) dropped a heartbreaker on Sunday evening, as Air Force's Stephen Carew scored 1:01 into overtime to hand the Tigers a 3-2 defeat in front of 1,507 fans at Cadet Ice Arena on Sunday evening.

Carew took a feed from Mike Walsh behind the net, wheeled out and fired a shot between the legs of RIT goaltender Josh Watson (Lititz, PA/Powell River Kings) for his fifth goal of the year.

The overtime loss snapped a 9-0-17 streak in the extra session for the Tigers dating back to Oct. 24, 2009, when ironically enough, RIT fell in overtime, 3-2 at Air Force.

Scott Holm, Tony Thomas, and Carew scored for the Falcons, who out-shot RIT 27-24, including 22-13 after the opening period. Jason Torf continued his mastery of RIT, stopping 22 shots to improve to 5-2 all-time against the Tigers.

Andrew Miller (Chicago, IL/Chicago Steel) scored his first collegiate goal in defeat for the Tigers, while Brad Reid (Delta, British Columbia/Coquitlam Express) added a shorthanded tally, RIT's first of the season. Watson stopped 24 shots in defeat.

The Tigers ran into penalty problems all evening, as they took 42 minutes in penalties compared to just four for Air Force. RIT has never has a disparity of that level at the Division I level. RIT's penalty-killing unit was excellent, limiting Air Force to just one power-play goal in nine chances, while scoring a shorthanded goal. RIT was 0-for-2 with the man-advantage, as one was just 14 seconds long.

Despite the outcome, RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was happy with how his team battled through adversity in the contest.

“We worked really hard as a team, with a mish-mash lineup, and I am really proud of how the guys gutted it out at a tough place to play,” said Wilson. “We have Sacred Heart coming to town this weekend and we can't look past anyone, as we have a long way to go. If we compete the way we did tonight, we will get this turned around.”

The Tigers played a great road first period, out-shooting Air Force 11-5, while scoring the lone goal.

Miller ripped in his first collegiate goal, as Brad Shumway (Lafayette, CO/Chicago Steel) took a feed from Nolan Descoteaux (Dallas, TX/South Shore Kings) in the neutral zone, sped into the zone and fired a pass back to Miller, who ripped a quick shot past Torf for the goal at the 14:21 mark.

RIT ran into severe penalty problems in the second period, taking six penalties for 34 minutes, including two majors, one for hitting from behind and one for crosschecking.

The Tigers scored their first shorthanded goal of the season just 30 seconds into the second to up their lead to 2-0, when Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) created a turnover at the RIT blue-line and broke into the Air Force zone with Reid on a 2-on-1. Garbowsky threaded a perfect pass to Reid, who found himself all alone with Torf. Reid calmly flipped a shot over the goaltender's shoulder for his third goal of the season.

Just 45 seconds after the goal, Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers) was whistled for a major penalty and game misconduct for hitting an Air Force player from behind in the RIT zone.  RIT would find themselves down for two full minutes of a 5-on-3, as Descoteaux was whistled for a penalty. Watson and the RIT penalty-killing unit would do a great job killing both off, however.

RIT had a couple of chance to increase the lead, one coming on a blast from Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) that Torf snared with the glove.

At the 14:47 mark of the period, Air Force got its first goal, as a shot by Jason Fabian was stopped by Watson, but he could not control the rebound. The puck was sitting in the crease just before the goal line before Holm crashed the net and looked to have kicked the puck in, but the goal was allowed to stand.

Just 50 seconds later, Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) was given RIT's second major penalty of the period, this time for cross-checking a player from behind in the Air Force zone against the boards. He was also given a game misconduct.

This time, Air Force would make the Tigers pay, as Thomas crashed the net and put home a rebound off a shot by Cole Gunner that Watson could not control.

In the third period, RIT had two great chances on one shift, as Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) wheeled out and fired a shot that Torf made a big save on. The rebound came right to Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs), but Torf was there to gobble that scoring chance up and keep the game tied.

Gunner fired a blast from the high slot that had Watson beat, but clanged off the crossbar and out.

With about 1:25 left, there was a scramble in front and Watson looked down and out, but the RIT goaltender made like a snow angle to sweep the puck out of the crease and harms way.

The loss extends RIT's winless streak to six games, which is the most all-time at the Division I level for the Tigers. RIT has not won since Nov. 3 at American International. RIT is off to its worst start in seven AHA seasons at 1-5-2. RIT currently sits 10th out of 12 teams in the league standings.

Tonight's meeting is the first of three between the two schools in 2012-13. The two teams will meet later in the season for a pair of games at Ritter Arena on Feb. 22-23, 2013. Both games will begin at 7:05 p.m.

RIT and Air Force has developed into one of the best and most competitive rivalries in all of college hockey, as Air Force now leads the all-time series between the two schools, 18-14-3. The Falcons have now won five of the last six meetings between the two schools since the 2011 AHA Championship. The two schools have met in the last two AHA Championship games and have combined to win the last six league titles.

Since the start of the 2005-06 season, RIT is 11-16-3 against Air Force. In seven trips to Air Force since 2005, the Tigers are 0-8 on the first night or lone game of the weekend series and 2-10-2 overall.

RIT returns to action on Friday and Saturday with a pair of home games against Sacred Heart. Both contests start at 7:05 p.m.