COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – The RIT men's hockey team (2-3-0, 1-1-0 AHA) dropped its first Atlantic Hockey Association contest of the season, falling to Air Force (2-4-0, 2-2-0 AHA) by a score of 4-3 in overtime in front of 1,912 fans at Cadet Ice Arena on Saturday evening.

The Tigers held three one-goal leads in the contest, but could not get the insurance marker. Air Force's Chad Demers tied the game with 1:33 left in regulation and Scott Holm scored the game-winner with 1:10 left in overtime to hand RIT the defeat.

In overtime, RIT was assessed a too many men on the ice penalty with 3:22 left. The Tigers killed the penalty, and in the final seconds of the penalty, cleared the puck down the ice, but inexplicably, it was called icing. RIT won the ensuing draw, but could not clear the zone. The puck came back to Johnny Hrabovsky, who fired a shot that RIT goaltender Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) stopped, but a rebound kicked in front. A.J. Reid took a whack at it, with Rotolo making a save. The ensuing rebound came to Holm at the side of the net and he was able to lift the puck over the pad of the sprawling RIT goaltender for the game-winner.

With the game tied at 2-2 in the third, Todd Skirving (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sioux Falls Stampede) gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead 4:02 into the frame, following up on the play and firing a shot past Air Force goaltender Chris Truehl for his second goal of the season. Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) fed a pass behind the net to Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders), who wheeled out in front. Smith attempted a shot that was blocked, with the carom laying in the slot. Skirving was there to beat Truehl low to the glove side.

The Tigers had to kill off two penalties afterwards and were weathering the late Air Force storm. With 1:33 left in regulation and the goalie pulled, Max Hartner fired a cross-ice feed to Demers, who was able to get position on an RIT defenseman and beat Rotolo from the side of the net to tie the game.

RIT fired a season-high 41 shots, out-shooting the Falcons, 41-26, including 29-11 over the first two periods. Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) had a goal and an assist, while Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) and Skirving also scored. Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) dished out two assists in the loss. Rotolo made 22 saves to fall to 1-2 this season.

The Tigers struggled to stay out the penalty box, taking a season-high 34 minutes in penalties, leading to eight Air Force power-plays. The Falcons were 1-for-8 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 1-for-4.

Matthew Meier, Phil Boje, Demers, and Holm scored for the Falcons, while Truehl made 38 saves in the win.

"I thought we had great pressure 5-on-5 all night, but missed a few opportunities that could have put the game away," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "It's a good lesson for us in that we have to focus on winning the game when we have a late lead."
 
RIT came out flying and had a handful of good chances early. Powell came in on a breakaway and was stopped. Moments later, Skirving had what looked to be a wide open net on a 4-on-2 break, but Truehl came across and somehow kept the puck out the net with a diving stick save.

McGowan opened the scoring at the 8:29 mark with a laser off the right post and in from the left face-off circle on the rush for his third goal of the season to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead. Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers) took an elbow to the head behind the RIT, but got the puck to Garbowsky, who fired a pass to McGowan in the neutral zone. McGowan looped into the Falcons zone and was able to fire the shot home.

Air Force tied the game at the 16:52 mark, as Meier fired a shot from the right face-off circle after RIT could not clear, beating Rotolo to the far side to tie the game.

Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) made a great defensive play moments later on an Air Force power-play, blocking a shot from Cole Gunner in close with an open net to keep the game tied.

The second period was all RIT, as they out-shot Air Force, 19-4, but both teams scored once and the game was tied 2-2 after 40 minutes.

Mitchell gave the Tigers their second lead of the night on the power-play at the 7:26 mark of the second, completing a nice tic-tac-toe passing play from McGowan and Garbowsky for his second goal in as many nights. Garbowsky fed McGowan on the goal line, who made a perfect pass right to Mitchell in the slot. Mitchell one-timed a low hard shot past Truehl to the far side.

Air Force got their lone power-play goal of the evening with 4:52 left in the period, as Boje wristed a shot from the point through traffic that went off a RIT defenseman and past a screened Rotolo to tie the game at 2-2

Last night, the Tigers received goals from five different players in defeating the Falcons by a score of 5-1. Rotolo made 20 saves in the win. The four-goal margin of victory was the largest ever for the Tigers over Air Force in 41 previous all-time meetings.

Air Force leads the all-time series between the two schools, 22-17-3. The teams met in the 2011 and 2012 AHA Championship games and combined to win the last six of the last eight league titles. Since the start of the 2005-06 season, RIT is 14-20-3 against Air Force.

RIT returns to action next weekend with a pair of games at defending AHA Champion Robert Morris. Both Friday and Saturday's games from 84 Lumber Arena get underway at 7:05 p.m.