Men's Hockey | 3/9/2013 9:49:00 PM

Box Score

ROCHESTER, NY – Seven different players scored goals, as the RIT men's hockey team (15-16-5) advanced to the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals for the sixth straight season, tying a season-high with seven goals in a 7-1 win over American International (12-17-6) in game two of the AHA First Round from Ritter Arena on Saturday evening. The Tigers will face top-seed Niagara University (21-8-5) in a best-of-three series at Dwyer Arena, starting Friday, March 15.

The line of Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings), Dan Schuler (Webster, NY/Powell River Kings), and Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) combined for eight points and were directly responsible for four of the seven RIT goals. Garbowsky recorded a career-high four points on a goal and three assists, extending his point-scoring streak to nine games. He was also plus-4, and was named the game's second star. Schuler was the first star, scoring the game-winning shorthanded goal to go along with two assists for a career-best three-point night, and was plus-3. McGowan extended his point-scoring streak to eight games with a goal.

Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) and Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) recorded a goal and an assist apiece for the Tigers, who also scored seven goals in a 7-1 win over Connecticut on Feb. 2. Jeff Smith (Spokane, WA/Tri-City Storm) and Nolan Descoteaux (Dallas, TX/South Shore Kings) also scored goals for RIT, while Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) dished out a pair of assists. Eleven different Tigers recorded at least one point.

In goal, RIT goaltender Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) was brilliant for the second straight night, stopping 33-of-34 shots to improve to 2-0 in the postseason. He made 26 saves over the final 40 minutes. Ruby stopped 65-of-67 shots in the two weekend games.

American International out-shot RIT, 34-31, including 27-15 over the final two periods. Chris Porter scored the Yellow Jackets lone goal midway through the third period. In goal, Ben Meisner stopped 23-of-30 shots before being pulled with 5:54 left. Chandler Long made one save in the final 5:54 in relief.

RIT was 1-for-2 with the man-advantage, while holding American International scoreless in two power-play chances.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was happy with all facets of his team's play tonight.

"I thought we showed good patience in both games this weekend," said Wilson. "We stuck with our game plan of good solid team defense all weekend. Goaltending and special teams are really important this time of year. (Dan) Schuler's shorthanded goal was really important for us and (Jordan) Ruby made several timely saves for us all weekend."
 
RIT played one of its best first periods of the season, jumping out to a 2-0 lead, out-shooting the Yellow Jackets 16-7, while scoring a power-play and shorthanded goal.

RIT dodged two bullets early, as Ruby was called on to make a big pad save on Nick Grasso five minutes in. Moments later, Chris Porter capitalized on a giveaway and fired a shot that beat Ruby but went off both posts and landed under the RIT goaltender's pads.

The Tigers got on the board at the 11:03 mark, on the power-play, as Saracino fired a blast from the point that went through a screen and past Meisner for his 11th goal of the season. Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers) tied up a loose puck in the corner, with Garbowsky tipping a pass to Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks) at the left point. Noyes fed a pass to Saracino, who one-timed the blast in.

RIT was shorthanded to end the period and capitalized with its third shorthanded goal of the season, as Schuler took a perfect pass banked off the side boards in the neutral zone and skated in on a breakaway. Schuler waited Meisner out and slid a shot off the left post and in for his fifth goal of the season and first while shorthanded. Saracino set up the play by chipping a pass to Garbowsky in the defensive zone.

RIT tacked on two more second period goals to take a commanding 4-0 lead after two periods of play.

The goaltenders went big glove save for save early on in the period. Ruby made his best save of the game with 16:09 left in the frame, robbing Chris Markiewicz with the left glove as the American International defenseman got behind the RIT defense on a breakaway.

Meisner robbed Noyes with a great glove save of his own in the next minute. McGowan made a great pass to the trailing defenseman who was able to walk in from the slot, but Meisner held his ground and snatched the puck out of midair.

Descoteaux tallied his third goal of the season after a tremendous play by Schuler at the Yellow Jackets blue-line. Garbowsky fed a pass to Schuler in the neutral zone and the freshman forward skated into the offensive zone. Schuler toe-dragged the puck past an American International defenseman and found Descoteaux all alone at the side of the net. Descoteaux was able to tap the past past a sliding Meisner for his third goal of the season.

With 2:15 left in the period, Eliot Raibl (Vancouver, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires) defly poked away a puck from a Yellow Jackets in the neutral zone with the puck coming right to McGowan. McGowan used Garbowsky as a decoy on the 2-on-1 and fired a hard wrist shot from the right face-off circle off the left post and past Meisner for his ninth goal of the season.

RIT poured it on in the third period for the decisive win.

The Yellow Jackets made it 4-1 and broke Ruby's shutout on a goal by Porter with 11:55 left in regulation. A shot by Brandon Lubin was blocked in front, but the rebound came right to Porter who spun and beat Ruby to the far post from in front.

Three goals by RIT in a span of 3:20 ended any chance of a comeback.

Garbowsky and Schuler took the wind out of the Yellow Jackets with tremendous hard work to set up a goal to make it 5-1 at the 10:46 mark. Garbowsky out-hustled a player to a loose puck in the zone and had a shot blocked, but Schuler outworked two defenseman behind the net and fed his teammate, who was all alone in front. Garbowsky one timed a shot from in close over Meisner for his 10th goal of the season.

Lynch made it 6-1 with 6:45 left, tipping in a pass from Noyes in the slot for his 10th goal of the season. Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) won the draw and dug the puck to Noyes at the point. Noyes made a great move and better pass to Lynch in the slot, who was able to redirect a shot through traffic and past Meisner.

RIT concluded the onslaught 1:41 later, as Smith took a feed from Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers) on the rush in front of the net and roofed a shot over Meisner for his team-leading 14th goal of the season. Lynch also assisted on the goal.

The Tigers finished 3-0-1 against the Yellow Jackets this season. Last night, RIT won game one 2-1, behind 32 saves from Ruby and a goal from Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) in he final seconds of the second period that broke a 1-1 tie. RIT is 22-3-2 all-time against American International and 19-3-1 since the start of the 2005-06 season. The Tigers are 13-1-1 all time against the Yellow Jackets at Ritter Arena, and are now currently riding an nine-game home winning streak. It was 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.
 
RIT is now 12-2 all-time in the postseason at Ritter Arena in the Division I era, and 16-6 all-time in AHA Postseason games.

Garbowsky now has 17 points (8-9-17) over a nine-game point-scoring streak, while McGowan has a seven-game point-scoring streak (2-7-9).
 
The Tigers finished 0-1-2 against upcoming opponent Niagara this season. The two teams skated to a 2-2 draw in Niagara on Dec. 12 and 3-3 tie at Ritter Arena on Jan. 25. Niagara defeated RIT 6-4 in Niagara on Jan. 26.

"We are very excited for the challenge of playing Niagara next weekend," said Wilson. "They have a great team with a great goalie, and a great home record (13-0-2) this season. We are a hungry team and look forward to playing this series."