Men's Hockey | 10/18/2013 7:01:00 PM

Box Score

POTSDAM, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (0-3-0) headed to Clarkson University (4-1-0) to face the Golden Knights, looking to earn its first win of the 2013-14 season, but came up short, falling 4-1 in game one of the two game weekend series at Cheel Arena on a chilly Friday Night in Upstate New York. 

Brad Reid (Delta, British Columbia/Coquitlam Express) scored the lone RIT goal in the second period right out in front of the net, but the Tigers struggled from start to finish to generate much of an offensive attack. Caleb Cameron (Sunridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) and Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) assisted on the tally, both the first helpers of their collegiate careers.

Jeff Dinallo, Jarrett Burton, Allan McPherson, and Joe Zarbo all scored a goal for the Golden Knights.

Defensively the Tigers couldn't seem to keep the puck out of their end as goaltender Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) made 33 saves. Despite making some terrific saves throughout the game it wasn't enough for the Tigers. 

"I think it all started for us with the face-offs, we lost the puck on face-offs all lot tonight," said Head Coach Wayne WIlson." Overall I just thought they were the hungrier team tonight. Our ability to not defend was more evident than anything else and we had some chances to score, but we got to play better than that."

From the outset it the game looked as though it would be much closer than it ended up, as RIT and Clarkson juggled momentum throughout the first five minutes of play. Ruby looked sharp early making some spectacular saves to bail out his defense, including a great glove save at the 13:37 mark when A.J. Fossen took a slap shot on a two on one opportunity.

Ruby could only hold tight for so long though as Dinallo finally made contact with the back of the net with 5:40 remaining in the first period off an assist from teammate Pat Megannety. 

Just a few minutes later RIT would get the first power play of the game but failed to score despite taking a number of great shots on goal. The best was a shot by Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) right out in front of the net, that Knights goaltender Greg Lewis made a terrific pad save on to deflect it away. At the end of one period the Knights led 1-0. 

The second period began much different as Clarkson came out with a full head of steam offensively After being on the attack for the first seven minutes of the period, which was aided by a tripping penalty on Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies), the Tigers finally got their first shot on goal in the period by Brad Shumway (Lafayette, CO/Chicago Steel) from the left wing with 11:42 to go. 

A few minutes later the Tigers would have their best scoring chance to that point on a breakaway by Reid who couldn't quite squeeze his back hander on the left side of the net past Lewis. 

Clarkson though would regain momentum and score their second goal of the game, courtesy of Burton which was upheld after review despite plowing over Ruby into the net on the play. That goal seemed to open the flood gates as Reid would answer for the Tigers two minutes later, with his first goal of the season off assists by both Smith and Cameron. RIT trailed 2-1.

However just 27 second later Clarkson would add to their lead once again with a goal by McPherson giving the Knights a 3-1 lead, which they would take into the break. 

The third period would be much of the same as Clarkson stayed on the attack for the majority of the period.  Just 3:24 into the period, the Knights added an insurance goal by Zarbo, to put them up 4-1 where the score would stand.

RIT was out-shot 37-26. Lewis made 25 saves in the win for the Golden Knights.

RIT is now 2-11-2 all time against Clarkson and 0-5-1 since becoming a Division I program in 2005. The Tigers haven't beaten the Knights since 1986.

The Tigers look to redeem themselves tomorrow as they return to Cheel Arena for a rematch against Clarkson at 7:30 p.m.