ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team opened the 2014-15 season and the brand new Gene Polisseni Center with a resounding 5-2 win over St. Lawrence in front of 3,103 fans on Friday evening.
Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) and
Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers) scored a pair of goals apiece, while
Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) dished out three assists. The line of McGowan, Mitchell, and
Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings), along with defenseman
Brad Shumway (Lafayette, CO/Chicago Steel) were all plus-3. Shumway added a pair of assists.
Caleb Cameron (Sunridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) also scored for the Tigers, who out-shot St. Lawrence, 28-23.
RIT goaltender
Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) stopped 21 shots to earn the win. St. Lawrence goaltender, Kyle Hayton, made his collegiate debut, stopping 23 saves in defeat.
Mike Marnell had a goal and assist for the Saints, while Nolan Gluchowski dished out a pair of assists. Drew Smolcynski also scored.
RIT was 1-for-4 with the man-advantage, while St. Lawrence was 2-for-7.
"Having tonight's win and last Saturday's (exhibition) win under our belt on home ice feels really good," said RIT head coach
Wayne Wilson. "It was really important to get the first goal and we played very well 5-on-5. Clarkson tomorrow night will be a tough test, but we want to really show our home-ice advantage."
The Tigers led 2-1 after a physical, hectic first period in which RIT took 12 shots on goal to St. Lawrence's 11.
McGowan had a great chance for the Tigers about six minutes when he broke in on Hayton on the left wing. McGowan's initial shot from the left circle was stopped, with the rebound kicking right back to him. McGowan took another shot from in close, but Hayton slid over to make the pad save.
Kuqali scored the first Gene Polisseni Center goal for the men at the 11:02 mark, as he took a perfect cross-ice feed from Garbowsky on the back side, tucking a shot from the doorstep past Hayton for the power-play goal. McGowan fed Mitchell in the slot, who instead of shooting, quickly fired a pass to Garbowsky on the goal line at the right side of the net. Garbowsky found Kuqali all alone in front to complete the perfect tic-tac-toe goal.
Just over five minutes later, Cameron made it 2-0 Tigers, firing a perfect shot from the left circle past Hayton on the rush, just under the crossbar to the glove side. Todd Skiriving broke up a pass at his one blueline, tipping the puck to
Brad Shumway (Lafayette, CO/Chicago Steel). Shumway then found Cameron streaking down the left side, as the teams were playing 4-on-4. Cameron broke in and made no mistake for his second career goal.
RIT nearly made it 3-0 moments later, as a shot from
Mark Golberg (Ottawa, Ontario/Cumberland Grads) was stopped in front by Hayton. The rebound came to
Garrett McMullen (Churchville, NY/Trail Smoke Eaters), who was crashing the net, but the RIT forward could not corral the loose puck with the net empty.
The Saints cut the RIT lead in half with 18 seconds left in the period, as Marnell fired a laser of a wrist shot past Ruby from the right circle, on the power-play. Gavin Bayreuther and Nolan Gluchowski assisted on the goal.
RIT scored the only two goals of the third period to take a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes of play.
Just 28 seconds into the period, Kuqali forced a turnover in the Saints zone and cut to the net from the left side. His centering pass from down by the goal line deflected off a Saints defender and over the shoulder of Hayton for his second goal of the contest.
Ruby stopped all nine shots in the period, including a great save on Gunnar Hughes from the doorstep on a delayed penalty. RIT's penalty-killing unit came up with two big stops, as Ruby did a great job limiting his rebounds.
McGowan made it 4-1 Tigers with 5:37 left in the period, putting in his own rebound from in close. Abt fired a long breakout pass from his own zone that McGowan tipped to Mitchell at the Saints blue line. Mitchell came in behind the net and fed McGowan, who was following up on the play. McGowan's first shot was stopped, but he cashed in on the rebound for his 24th career goal. It was Abt's first collegiate point.
The two teams combined for just seven shots in the third period. McGowan netted his second of the game at the 6:11 mark, slamming home a rebound off a shot from Mitchell. Shumway also assisted on the goal.
St. Lawrence completed the scoring 1:25 later, as Smolcynski wristed a shot from the left face-off circle on the power-play past Ruby, who was taken out of the play by players in front.
RIT first-year players Abt,
Mark Golberg (Ottawa, Ontario/Cumberland Grads), Brady Norrih,
Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers),
Max Mikowski (Cheekotwaga, NY/Buffalo Jr. Sabres), and
Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) all made their collegiate debut.
The Tigers are now 5-9-0 all-time against St. Lawrence, 5-6-0 in the Division I era. RIT is 4-2 against the Saints over the last six meetings, scoring 27 goals during that stretch.
RIT improved to 2-7-1 in season openers at the Division I level. They are 4-5-1 in home openers since moving to Division I in 2005.
The Tigers are right back in action on Saturday against fellow Liberty League school and ECAC rival Clarkson. The contest from the Gene Polisseni Center gets underway at 7:05 p.m.
In a global celebration of RIT hockey, RIT's main campus will be connected with its international campuses in Croatia, Dubai and Kosovo via advanced Cisco Systems telecommunications technology on Saturday. This technology will allow students from around the world to interact with each other in real time.
On the main campus in Rochester, festival-goers will be treated to an assortment of food, tailgating games, giveaways, live music and much more prior to Tigers' men's and women's hockey games.
