Men's Hockey | 2/24/2012 9:41:00 PM

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NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, NY  – The RIT men's hockey team (17-11-5, 14-7-5 AHA) had its four-game unbeaten streak snapped by Niagara University (15-10-8, 14-6-6 AHA) 4-1 in a crucial Atlantic Hockey Association contest on Friday evening in front of a packed house at Dwyer Arena.  Niagara scored the final four goals of the contest.

Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies) scored RIT's lone goal, a power-play marker in the first period. Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) moved into a tie for second place in RIT's Division I era with 130 career points, tying Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/). He is just two points behind Simon Lambert (Ste.-Therese, PQ/Cumberland Grads) for the all-time lead.

Ryan Murphy scored the hat-trick and added an assist for the Purple Eagles, while Patrick Divjak tallied a goal and an assist.

Chris Noonan was not tested much, but made 22 saves to earn the win. RIT goaltender Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) took the loss, stopping 29 shots.

Niagara out-shot RIT, 33-23. The Purple Eagles were 2-for-3 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 1-for-4.

The Tigers fall into a tie for third place in the AHA standings. RIT needs a win on Saturday to clinch a first-round bye. Just three points separate the top seven teams.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was not happy with his team's effort and knows they will have to much better tomorrow.

“I thought we were very lethargic tonight,” said Wilson. “We didn't play with the energy needed to in a game like this with a championship on the line. We didn't establish any type of forecheck. Niagara played with much more of an edge and won all of the little battles.”

Both teams scored once in a choppy first period, in which Niagara held an 11-7 edge in shots.

Niagara came out and fired the first five shots of the game before the Tigers received the first power-play of the game midway through the first period, as Burt was hauled down on a 3-on-2 break, where his shot hit the right post.

Just 38 seconds into the power-play, Noyes made a perfect pass from the point to the goal line, where Colavecchia was left all alone. The sophomore forward made no mistake in burying his team-best 13th goal of the season to give RIT the 1-0 lead at the 10:57 mark. Burt made a nice pass to Noyes at the point to garner the second assist.

The Tigers had a golden chance to go up 2-0 when they were awarded a power-play just two minutes later. RIT fired three shots that Noonan stopped before taking a tripping call that negated the man-advantage.

Niagara got the equalizer on the power-play at the 15:40 mark, as Murphy tipped in a point shot by Patrick Divjak off a broken play. Divjak had the puck at the point and whiffed on his original shot and went down. He was able to corral the puck before the Tiger forward and ripped a low hard shot that Murphy tipped over the shoulder of Madolora for his seventh tally of the year.

Madolora had to come up with a few big saves early on, as he made a big pad save on Issac Kohls, then stuffed Murphy in close.
The Purple Eagles completely dominated the second period, scoring twice to take a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.

The Tigers got themselves into penalty problems early in the period and it caught up with them at the 6:28 mark, as Divjak whistled a wrist shot from the high slot cleanly over the glove of Madolora for his sixth tally of the season.

RIT had a great chance when Nolan Descoteaux (Dallas, TX/South Shore Kings) found himself in the slot after a Niagara giveaway, but Noonan made the save.

Niagara upped the lead to 3-1 at the 17:56 mark, as Murphy pounced on a loose puck in front after a shot was blocked and shoveled the puck past Madolora for his second of the game and eighth of the year.

The Tigers tried to press on in the third period, but Niagara was able to keep everything to the outside. Brandon Thompson (Vancouver, British Columbia/Handsworth) was robbed in front by Noonan midway through the period.

Murphy completed the hat-trick by scoring an empty-netter in the final minute.

RIT and Niagara were ECAC West foes in the 1990's when both were Division III teams. The Tigers are 2-9-5 all-time against the Purple Eagles and are 0-6-3 since moving to Division I in 2005.

Tonight's game was the second of three meetings of the season between the two schools. In the first meeting of the season on Oct. 8, the two teams skated to a scoreless tie, RIT's one and only in 47 seasons of varsity hockey. Madolora made 32 saves in that contest, while Niagara's Cody Campbell stopped 30 shots.

RIT finished with a losing road record in AHA play for the first time since joining the conference in 2006. The Tigers dropped to 6-7-0 on the road in conference games.

Both teams conclude the regular season on Saturday, as Niagara invades a sold out Ritter Arena for a 7:05 p.m. contest. Before the game, RIT will honor its member of the Class of 2012.