ROCHESTER, NY – Senior captain
Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) scored two goals and added an assist, while classmate
Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) made 24 saves to lift the RIT men's hockey team (5-8-2, 4-5-2 AHC) to a convincing 4-1 win over Niagara (3-12-0, 3-8-0 AHC) in front of 2,554 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center on Friday evening.
With RIT trailing 1-0 to start the second period, Garbowsky scored two goals 2:24 apart to give RIT a 2-1 lead.
Caleb Cameron (Sunridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) and
Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) added power-play goals, as RIT out-shot Niagara 48-25, including 41-18 over the first two periods.
Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) added a pair of assists. The 48 shots are a season-high for RIT.
Garbowsky is now second nationally among all players with 22 points. His 13 goals are tied for the national lead.
Ruby was great in net, making several key saves in the second period when RIT was clinging to a 2-1 lead. His best save came midway through the period, when he somehow robbed Hugo Turcotte from in front when the Niagara forward looked to have a sure goal.
Derian Plouffe scored for Niagara, who have now lost three straight contests. Jackson Teichroeb was solid in net, stopping 44 of 48 shots.
RIT's special teams were excellent tonight, as the power-play went 2-for-6, and the penalty-killing unit killed off all eight Niagara power-play attempts. RIT killed off 1:44 of a Niagara 5-on-3 spanning the final minute of the second period and first minute of the third period. They did not allow a single shot over that 5-on-3 and overall, allowed just four shots on the eight Niagara power-plays. Forwards
Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders),
Brandon Thompson (Vancouver, British Columbia/Handsworth),
Dan Schuler (Webster, NY/Powell River Kings),
Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles),
Andrew Miller (Chicago, IL/Chicago Steel), Garbowsky,and Mitchell, along with the defensive unit hounded the Niagara power-play all evening.
"I thought we had a great second period and had Niagara on their heels," said RIT head coach
Wayne Wilson. "Our penalty-kill has been really good and was great tonight. I liked what we did on the power-play as well, but we still overall, have to get more pucks to the net."
The Tigers scored a pair of power-play markers in a game for the first time since Feb. 21, 2014 at Air Force and won for the first time this season when their opponent scored first.
The Tigers peppered Niagara over the opening 20 minutes of play, out-shooting them 18-7, but the Purple Eagles scored the lone goal to lead 1-0 into the intermission.
Teichroeb had to make several good saves on great RIT chances on the rush. Early on, McGowan had a chance from the slot, but Teichroeb gloved it aside. Teichroeb then robbed Cameron, Schuler and Garbowsky on good chances.
Niagara got on the board right before the halfway mark of the period, as a point shot from Keegan Harper was tipped by Plouffe in front past Ruby.
RIT took control in the second period, firing a season-high 23 shots and scoring three times to take a 3-1 lead.
Garbowsky made it 1-1 just 28 seconds into the second, when he tipped a shot at the side of the net by
Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) over Teichroeb for his 12th of the year.
Just 2:24 later, Garbowsky scored a highlight reel goal, taking a perfect feed from McGowan and putting it into the open net from the right side to give RIT a lead they would not relinquish.
Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers) tipped a loose puck to Mitchell, who kicked a pass to Garbowsky in the neutral zone. Garbowsky came in on a 3-on-2 and sent a pass to McGowan, who was trailing. McGowan made a nifty move to get around a defender and find Garbowsky all alone in front. The captain had nothing but an open net for goal number 13 in 2014-15, a new career-high.
After a handful of big saves from Ruby, Cameron gave RIT a big two goal lead with 2:16 left in the second, firing a hard slap shot from the left circle off the post and past a screened Teichroeb for his third of the season.
Alex Perron-Fontaine (St. Mathieu de Beloeil, Quebec/Chilliwack Chiefs) and
Todd Skirving (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sioux Falls Stampede) assisted on the goal.
RIT's penalty kill dominated the third period and with just 16 seconds left, Mitchell put home a rebound on the doorstep after Teichroeb stopped a deflection from Garbowsky on a shot from
Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers).
Niagara leads the all-time series between the two schools, 14-4-9 and is 12-2-7 against RIT since 2005. It was RIT's first home win over Niagara since Feb. 8, 1997. Before tonight, RIT's lone win over the Purple Eagles in the DI era came in the 2012 Atlantic Hockey Semifinals at Blue Cross Arena. The two teams will also meet in a home-and-home series on Feb. 6-7.
"We have to be focused and be ready for a much tougher game tomorrow," said Wilson. "Winning tonight does not mean anything when it comes to tomorrow. We need to battle and work hard."
The two teams meet on Saturday evening, this time at Niagara's Dwyer Arena, starting at 7:05 p.m. That game will also be on Time Warner Cable Sports channel 26 in Western New York.
