Men's Hockey | 2/4/2012 12:55:00 AM

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COLORADO SPRINGS, CO  – The RIT men's hockey team (15-9-3, 12-5-3 AHA) had its six-game unbeaten streak snapped, falling to Atlantic Hockey Association rival Air Force (13-7-6, 11-4-5 AHA) 3-0 in front of a sellout crowd of 2,932 fans at Cadet Ice Arena on Friday evening.

Casey Kleisinger tallied a shorthanded goal and Chad Demers and John Kruse scored even strength tallies for the Falcons, who extended their unbeaten streak to five games, and moved into a three-way tie for first place in the league standings with RIT and Niagara.

Air Force goaltender Jason Torf recorded his second straight shutout against RIT dating back to last season, stopping all 25 shots he faced.

RIT's Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) had his six-game unbeaten streak snapped, but played well for the Tigers, stopping 31 shots, as Air Force out-shot RIT 34-25.

The Tigers killed off all six Air Force power-plays, giving them 41 successful penalty kills in their last 42 attempts. RIT was just 0-for-2 on the power-play.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson thought his team played much better as the game progressed, but not good enough for the win tonight.

“Air Force jumped on us right from the start, and got that first goal, which was big tonight,” said Wilson. “We started to get back on them, but we couldn't get that first goal to get us excited and jump-start us. Air Force grinded it out in the third period and were able to get the second goal.”

Air Force came out and simply dominated the first 20 minutes of play, out-shooting RIT 17-6 and carrying the play throughout.  Fortunately for the Tigers, Madolora was on, stopping all 17 shots, including several from in tight to keep it scoreless.

Madolora made three big saves on rushes up the ice, where a Falcons forward went around a Tiger defenseman on the rush. Each time, Air Force crashed the net, but Madolora kept the puck out. Stephen Carew came in alone on Madolora, but the RIT goaltender stood his ground, then tipped an attempt by Tony Thomas wide on the rebound.

RIT did have a handful of big hits in the period, including a couple of open ice shots from Chris Haltigin (Oakville, Ontario/) and Daniel Spivak (Thornhill, Ontario/).

Air Force tallied the only goal of the second period, shorthanded, just 1:50 in, as Kleisinger scooted in on a 2-on-1 and beat Madolora cleanly low to the short side from the left face-off circle.

The Tigers got their legs underneath them and carried play for much of the second half of the period, but could not get anything past Torf.

RIT continued its pressure early in the third period, as Taylor McReynolds (Sherwood Park, Alberta/) had three glorious chances in front after he forced a turnover inside the Falcons zone, but Torf was up to the task each time.

Mark Cornacchia (Unionville, Ontario/) nearly tied the game with 13 minutes left, as he came into the Falcons zone and ripped a slap shot from the left side that got through Torf's arm, but ricocheted off the post and into the corner.

Less than a minute later, Air Force got the all important two goal lead, as Demers tipped in a point shot from Scott Mathis through the legs of Madolora.

Air Force's defense tightened up, allowing very little from the Tigers after, and with 2:01 left, Kruse tallied the insurance marker, getting past a Tiger in the neutral zone, walking in on a 2-on-1, cutting to the middle, and roofing a shot over the glove of Madolora, just under the crossbar to make it 3-0.

Tonight's game was the second of three meetings between the two teams this season, with RIT earning a hard-fought 3-1 win over the Falcons at Ritter Arena on Nov. 11 behind two goals from Bryan Potts (Niagara Falls, Ontario/Markham Waxers) and 25 saves from Madolora.

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 all-time series between the two schools, 15-14-3. Since the start of the 2005-06 season, RIT is 11-13-3 against Air Force. An astounding 17 of the last 27 meetings between the two schools have been a tie or decided by one goal.

Tonight's game was aired nationally by CBS College Sports. It is the second straight year that RIT has been featured on that network. The Tigers are 0-3 on national television over the last two seasons.

RIT has now been shut-out five teams this season, a team record.

RIT and Air Force complete the regular season series on Saturday night at 9:05 p.m. EST., once again at Cadet Ice Arena.