Men's Hockey | 3/8/2014 10:19:00 PM

Box Score

WORCESTER – The RIT men's hockey team (12-19-5) dropped game two of the Atlantic Hockey Association First Round Playoff series to Holy Cross (14-20-3) 5-1 on Saturday night at the Hart Center, forcing a decisive game three on Sunday afternoon at 5:05 p.m.
 
Dan Schuler (Webster, NY/Powell River Kings) scored the lone RIT goal with 16:09 remaining in the game off assists from Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) and Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks), but it was too little to late for the Tigers.
 
Tim Driscoll scored the opening goal of the game just 47 seconds into the contest from the doorstep to give the Crusaders the quick 1-0 lead. Moments later Shayne Stockton added a backhanded goal off a rebound on the right side of the net just inside the right post to make it 2-0. Holy Cross never looked back as Castan Sommer and Brett Lubanski would also score with Stockton adding his second goal of the game late in the 5-1 Crusaders win.
 
Matt Ginn was solid in net for Holy Cross making 29 saves on the night and preserving the lead his teammates built for him early.
 
RIT goaltender Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) faced 32 shots and made 27 saves on the night.
 
Final shots were 32-30 in favor of Holy Cross. Before the game, several RIT players were scratched from the lineup due to flu-like symptoms, which proved to be costly.
 
"We weren't at full strength today and that hurt us, but their goalie [Matt Ginn] played terrific tonight, which helped them," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "I have all the confidence in the world that if we had been healthy we would have won this game, but we're not done yet and it's going to be a battle tomorrow."
 
The first period got off to a rough start for RIT as two quick goals by Driscoll and Stockton put the Tigers in an early 2-0 hole. The one bright spot in the first came for RIT several minutes later when their penalty kill unit killed off a 5-on-3 Crusaders advantage and kept the deficit, momentarily, at 2-0. With 7:04 remaining in the first, the Crusaders would add a third goal courtesy of Sommer who posted up just inside the left circle and blasted a shot over Rotolo's right shoulder.
 
In the second, a delayed penalty just over halfway through the period hurt the Tigers as goalkeeper Matt Ginn was able to get off the ice and give the Crusaders an extra attacker. With the extra man, Lubanski added a fourth Holy Cross goal from in close jabbing at the puck under a sprawling Rotolo.
 
In the third it looked like the Tigers had got on the board with 16:41 to go after a shot from Todd Skirving (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sioux Falls Stampede) flipped behind Ginn and slid right along the goalline but somehow never crossed it. Less than a minute later though, Schuler would cash in for RIT as his shot from the slot sailed past Ginn to cut the Crusaders lead to 4-1.
 
With 6:22 remaining in the game Stockton all but sealed the game with a goal from in close on the right side of the net, giving the Crusaders a 5-1 lead.
 
RIT is now 23-9-4 all-time against Holy Cross and 19-4-4 against them at the Division I level. The Tigers defeated the Crusaders in both the 2008 and 2009 AHA Quarterfinals series, winning in two games in 2008 and three games in 2009. The Tigers are now 1-2-1 against Holy Cross this season.
 
RIT is 17-9 all time in AHA postseason contests since becoming eligible for the league's postseason in 2007-08 and 1-3 on the road. Their first playoff road win came last night when the Tigers defeated the Crusaders 3-2 in overtime on a goal from Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles).

With the AHA three-game first round playoff series tied at 1-1, the squads will prepare for a win or go home game three tomorrow night at the Hart Center. RIT is 4-1 during the division I era in three-game playoff series elimination games with two of those wins coming at home against Holy Cross in the 2008-09 season. Sunday's game three is slated for a 5 p.m. start.

In other AHA first round playoff series action, Canisius and Niagra have punched their tickets to the quarterfinals after sweeping Sacred Heart and American International respectively. Robert Morris and Army however are tied at a game apiece and will play a decisive game three tomorrow starting at 7:05 p.m.