Men's Hockey | 2/21/2014 11:48:00 PM
Box Score
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - The RIT men's hockey team (8-18-5, 7-14-3 AHA) put up a valiant road effort, but fell at Atlantic Hockey Association rival Air Force Academy (19-10-4, 14-7-3 AHA) by a score of 4-3 at Cadet Ice Arena on Friday evening.
RIT got off to a slow start, falling behind 2-0 late in the first period, which proved to be too much to overcome. The Tigers would rally to cut the Falcons lead to one on three separate occassions, but could not get the equalizer.
Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) led the Tigers with a goal and an assist.
Dan Schuler (Webster, NY/Powell River Kings) and
Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers) would also score in defeat. Mitchell's goal was his first since Oct. 25, 2013 vs. Penn State. In net,
Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) made 25 saves in the loss.
Adam McKenzie led the Falcons with a goal and an assist. A.J. Reid, Ryan Timar, and Scott Holm alson scored for Air Force. In net, Jason Torf made 28 saves.
RIT out-shot Air Force, 31-29 overall. The Tigers were 2-for-5 with the man-advantage, while Air Force was 0-for-4.
"It was inexcusable how we started tonight, allowing a goal on the first shift," said RIT head coach
Wayne Wilson. "We had our moments (of good play), but overall, we have to play with much more energy. We need a win tomorrow night and have to compete harder in order to do that."
The Falcons led 2-1 after the opening period, getting a goal by Timar just 1:01 into the contest, then pushing the lead to 2-0 on a goal by Reid with 1:24 left in the period. RIT would capitalize with a power-play goal 30 seconds later, as Colavecchia would fake a shot from the slot and find Schuler, who was wide open in front for the tap-in goal.
McKenzie would give Air Force a 3-1 lead midway through the second period before Mitchell would tally RIT's second power-play goal of the game late in the second period, shoveling a pass from Lynch from the side of the net past Torf for his second goal of the season.
Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) would also assist on the goal.
Down 3-2 late in the third period,
Caleb Cameron (Sunridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) would wire a shot from the right wing off a face-off win past Torf, but off the post. Moments later, Holm would beat Rotolo to the short side on the rush with 4:04 left to make it 4-2 Falcons.
Exactly two minutes later, Lynch would steal the puck from a Falcons defender in close and beat Torf from the slot to make it a 4-3 game. This came the shift after Schuler hit the crossbar from the slot, just missing his second goal of the contest. RIT would pull Rotolo in the final minute, but could not get the tying goal.
Air Force leads the all-time series between the two schools, 21-15-3. Since the start of the 2005-06 season, RIT is 12-19-3 against Air Force. Earlier in the season, Air Force defeated RIT at Ritter Arena, 2-0 on Nov. 1. RIT out-shot Air Force, 39-25, but could not solve Torf, who made 39 saves for the shut out. Torf is 8-2 all-time against RIT in 11 career starts.
In seven trips to Air Force since 2005, the Tigers are 0-9 on the first night or lone game of the weekend series and 2-11-2 overall.
The loss extends RIT's winless streak to nine games (0-7-2). The Tigers last won on Jan. 18 against Army.
The two teams conclude the regular season series on Saturday evening, once again meeting at 9:05 p.m. EST from Cadet Ice Arena.
