Men's Hockey | 3/8/2013 9:32:00 PM

Box Score

ROCHESTER, NY – Sophomore goaltender Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) made 32 saves and freshman Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) broke a 1-1 tie with 12.5 seconds left in the second period, as the eighth seeded RIT men's hockey team (14-16-5) defeated ninth-seeded American International (12-16-6) 2-1 at Ritter Arena in game one of the best-of-three Atlantic Hockey Association First Round series at Ritter Arena on Friday evening.

Ruby was brilliant for the Tigers in his first career postseason start, especially in the third period, making several big saves with the Tigers up a goal. Ruby made a big glove save on the Yellow Jackets' Steve Mele with 7:45 left in regulation, then robbed Alex MacMillan from the lot 1:33 later. The RIT goaltender made his best save of the game with 4:40 remaining, outstretching as far he could, making a toe save on Blake Peake.

"I thought we played a good defensive game, as there were only a few shifts where they had us running around," said RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson. "Jordan (Ruby) came up with a couple of big saves that he needed to make." Tonight was about patience and playing good team defense. We didn't want to attack as much, but we still got 30 shots."

Mitchell and Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) scored for the Tigers, who are now 11-2 all-time in the postseason at Ritter Arena in the Division I era, and 15-6 all-time in AHA Postseason games. Ruby picked up his seventh win of the season, making 14 of his 32 saves in the third period.

Jon Puskar scored for the Yellow Jackets, who out-shot RIT, 33-32. Ben Meisner made 30 saves in defeat. RIT was 1-for-2 with the man-advantage, while American International was 0-for-2. There were no penalties called after the first period, as both teams took just two minors for four minutes. RIT did kill off 1:25 of an American International two-man advantage that spanned the final 55 seconds of the first period and first 30 seconds of the second.

The Tigers scored the lone goal in a very even period of play with both teams firing 10 shots on goal.

Saracino got the Tigers on the board at the 13:58 mark on a 5-on-3 power-play, firing a hard slap shot from right face-off circle past Meisner for his 10th goal of the season. Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) fed Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies) at the point, who one-touched a pass to Saracino, whose shot went off the right post and in.

Ruby had to come up with a tremendous save in the final seconds of the period, as a shot by Jon Puskar bounced wide off the back boards and right to Richard Leitner at the side of the net with an open cage. Somehow, Ruby slid across and kept the puck out of the net.

Both teams scored once in the second period, with RIT holding the 2-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.

Brad Shumway (Lafayette, CO/Chicago Steel) fired a shot that deflected off a maze of bodies in front and beat Meisner, but went off the right post and out about two minutes into the period.

The Yellow Jackets scored at the 3:16 mark of the second period, as Chris Porter caused a turnover in his own zone and fired a long pass to Puskar, who came in on a breakaway. Puskar fired a low shot off the right post and past Ruby for his 12th tally of the season.
From there, both teams went into defensive mode, with very few quality chances.

RIT broke the 1-1 tie with 12.5 seconds left in the period, as Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) fired in a shot from the slot after great work from Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) and Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) behind the AIC net. Garbowsky caused the turnover right to McGowan, who centered to Mitchell who was all alone in the slot. Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) wired in the one-timer in for his second goal of the year and first since the season opener against Michigan, nearly five months ago.

Garbowsky and Mitchell both extended their point-scoring streaks on that goal. Garbowsky now has 13 points (7-6-13) over an eight-game point-scoring streak, while McGowan has a six-game assist and point-scoring streak (1-7-8).
 
RIT is 21-3-2 all-time against American International and 18-3-1 since the start of the 2005-06 season. The Tigers are 12-1-1 all time against the Yellow Jackets at Ritter Arena, and are now currently riding an eight-game home winning streak. It will be the second time that the two teams have met in the postseason. In 2011, the two teams met in the AHA Quarterfinals at Ritter Arena, with RIT winning by scores of 5-0 and 5-1.

"I think tomorrow will definitely be a tougher game," said Wilson. "This was kind of a warmup for us and we have to be ready to go tomorrow."

Game two of the best of three series is Saturday at 7:05 p.m. from Ritter Arena.