Men's Hockey | 1/12/2013 9:45:00 PM

Box Score

ROCHESTER, NY – Junior goaltender Josh Watson (Lititz, PA/Powell River Kings) made 31 saves to record his second career shutout, lifting the RIT men's hockey team (6-10-4, 4-6-3 AHA), to a 4-0 win over Atlantic Hockey Association rival Bentley (8-10-1, 6-6-1 AHA)  in front of 1,880 fans at Ritter Arena on Saturday evening. Bentley came into the weekend as the highest scoring team in Division I, averaging 3.81 goals per game.

Watson was excellent in net for the Tigers, making eight saves in the first period, 11 in the second, and 12 in the final period. His best save of the game came midway through the second period on Bentley's Brett Gensler, who came into the weekend as the NCAA's leader in points per game, with a nifty glove save on a 2-on-1 from the right face-off circle. He added his first collegiate assist and was named the game's first star.

Watson also shutout American International on Nov. 3. The junior is now 5-6-3 with a 2.82 goals against average and .914 save percentage.

Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles), Dan Schuler (Webster, NY/Powell River Kings), Bryan Potts (Niagara Falls, Ontario/Markham Waxers), and Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies) scored for the Tigers. McGowan added an assist, while Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) had two assists. The defensive unit did a great job all evening blocking shots and limiting Bentley's quality scoring changes.

Bentley out-shot RIT, 31-28. The Tigers were 1-for-3 with the man-advantage, while Bentley was 0-for-3. Bentley goaltender Brendan Komm made 24 saves in the loss.

Last night, RIT fired 41 shots but were stymied by Komm, as the Bentley goaltender pitched the shutout. Tonight was a different story, however, as RIT scored on its first shot of the game and tallied three times on just eight shots over the opening 20 minutes to take a 3-0 lead.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson thought his team did many of the little things needed to win tonight's game.

"Last night's game was an easier game for us, as this game was a lot more contested," said Wilson. "Anyone can beat anyone and you have to be prepared to play every game, the name on the front of the jersey doesn't matter. I thought we did a good job of shutting things down defensively once we got the 4-0 lead. I don't care if we're playing the first or second place team, we just need to be ready to go (next weekend)."

Just 26 seconds into the contest, McGowan took advantage of a turnover in the Bentley zone to give RIT the 1-0 lead. Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) pinched in and caused a turnover, tipping a pass to Garbowsky. Garbowsky went wide and fired a shot that deflected off McGowan and in to make it 1-0 Tigers.

The line connected again at the 12:04 mark, as Garbowsky caused a turnover and fed McGowan, who centered a pass to Schuler, who fanned on his first attempt in front of the net, but then put the loose puck past Komm for his second goal of the year.

Potts made it 3-0 with just 2:09 left in the period, as he took a feed from Brad Reid (Delta, British Columbia/Coquitlam Express) in the neutral zone, skated into the Bentley zone and whistled a wrist shot over the glove of Komm from 45-feet out for his first goal of the season. Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers) also assisted on the goal.

Watson made his best save of the period late, robbing Alex Kubiak on a rebound in front after he made the original save on a shot from Steve Weinstein.

Watson and the RIT penalty-killing unit came up big in the second period, as the Tigers upped their lead to 4-0 after 40 minutes of play.

Colavecchia made it 4-0 Tigers at the 12:28 mark, as he took the puck into the Bentley zone and attempted a centering pass that bounced off the back of a Bentley back checker and past Komm, who had already dove across for the centering pass. Watson recorded his first collegiate assist on the play, he played the puck to Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks), who fed Colavecchia in the neutral zone.

In the third period, Watson and the RIT defense kept the high scoring Falcons on the perimeter and off the scoreboard.

The Tigers now have 23 shutouts since the start of the 2009-10 season and 29 since moving to Division I in 2005.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 16-6-2 and is 14-5-2 against the Falcons since 2006. Last night, Bentley defeated RIT 3-0 behind 41 saves from Komm. It was the first time RIT was shutout this season.

The Tigers return to action next weekend, with a pair of road contests at Army. Both Friday and Saturday's contests begin at 7:05 p.m.