MILFORD, CT – The RIT men's hockey team (7-10-4, 6-5-4 AHC) extended its unbeaten streak to three games with a 4-1 win over Sacred Heart University (6-14-3, 5-9-3 AHC) in Atlantic Hockey action from the Milford Ice Pavilion on Friday evening.
 
Caleb Cameron (Sunridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) had a goal and an assist to lead RIT offensively, while Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings), Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers), and Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers) also scored. In goal, Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) was sensational, stopping a season-high 39 shots to improve to 5-4-4 this season. He stopped 16 shots in the opening period, 12 in the second, and 11 in the third.
 
Drew George scored Sacred Heart's lone goal, 29 seconds into the third period. In goal, Andrew Bodnarchuk started, stopping 15 of 19 shots over two periods before getting pulled in favor of Alex Vazzano, who made nine saves in the third period.
 
Sacred Heart out-shot RIT 40-28. RIT killed off all four Sacred Heart power-play attempts and scored its fourth shorthanded goal of the season. The Tigers were 0-for-3 with the man-advantage. The two teams combined for 78 penalty minutes, with Sacred Heart taking 48 of them.
 
"I thought our penalty killing was outstanding and Jordan (Ruby) was excellent, as that was the difference tonight," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "I thought we stood around too much in our own end at times, but it is good to get two points when you don't play your best game. We expect to be much better tomorrow."
 
Despite getting out-shot 16-11 over the opening 20 minutes, RIT took a 2-0 lead after one period of play. Sacred Heart came out fast, firing 10 shots over the first eight minutes, but Ruby was able to shut the door early.
 
At the 6:26 mark, Garbowsky gave the Tigers a lead they would relinquish, netting his 15th goal of the season to make it 1-0 Tigers. RIT did a great job cycling the puck down low, as Brad Reid (Delta, British Columbia/Coquitlam Express) took a shot that was blocked, but he grabbed his own rebound and fed Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) in the slot. Instead of shooting, McGowan faked and fed Garbowsky, who was all alone at the right side of the net. The captain made no mistake with the open net.
 
Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) made it 2-0 RIT with 4:58 left in the frame, collecting a pass from Cameron after the latter took a high hit at the Sacred Heart blueline. Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) was able to cut in from the right wing and roof a wrist shot over the shoulder of Bodnarchuk for his third goal of the season.
 
The Tigers added to the lead in the second period, scoring a pair of goals to lead 4-0 after 40 minutes of play.
 
Ruby had to make a few big saves early in the frame, his best coming on a one-timer from the slot from Drew George.
 
Cameron made it 3-0 with seven minutes left in the period, as Cameron took a feed from Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) on a 3-on-2 rush and from the slot, fired a perfect shot past Bodnarchuk just under the crossbar and in for his sixth goal of the season.
 
Kuqali tallied his third goal of the year with 1:48 left in the period while the Tigers were shorthanded to give RIT a 4-0 lead. With Sacred Heart holding a 4-on-3 man-advantage, Kuqali took a loose puck in his own zone, sped through the neutral zone and with Garbowsky as a decoy on the right side, fired a hard shot from the left faceoff circle through the legs of Bodnarchuk.
 
Sacred Heart would break Ruby's shutout just 29 seconds into the third period, as George tipped in a pass from Ben Lake past Ruby from in close.
 
Ruby made two huge saves midway through the third period to keep it a 4-1 game. Just over the halfway mark of the period, Ruby did the splits to rob Mitch Nylen on a partial breakaway and made a great stop from the slot on George, who was gunning for his second of the game.
 
Tonight was the third of four meetings between the two schools this season, as the two teams met previously this season on Nov. 21-22 at the Gene Polisseni Center, with RIT winning 5-1 on Nov. 21 and Sacred Heart earning a 2-1 victory the next night.
 
RIT is 18-5-2 all-time against the Pioneers and 6-3-1 from the Milford Ice Pavilion. The Tigers have won or tied 11 of the last 12 meetings against Sacred Heart.
 
The two teams wrap up their regular season series on Saturday evening, once again from the Milford Ice Pavilion at 7:05 p.m.