HAMILTON, NY – Despite a furious third period rally, the RIT men's hockey team (0-3-1) fell on the road at Colgate University (2-2-0), 5-2 at Starr Rink on Friday evening. Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) and Greg Amlong (O'Fallon, MO/UMass Lowell) both scored their first goals in a RIT uniform.

Down 3-1 heading into the third period, RIT dominated play for the majority of the period, out-shooting Colgate, 16-8. Amlong would make it a 3-2 game with 11:32 left in regulation, firing a slap shot on the power-play past goaltender Charlie Finn.

RIT would continue its strong pressure, getting numerous chances on Finn, but they could not get the tying goal. Mark Golberg (Ottawa, Ontario/Cumberland Grads) had a great chance gloved by Finn, while with about three minutes left, Valenzuela was robbed by the blocker of Finn on a rush.

Colgate would put the game away with two empty-net goals in the final 1:15.

For RIT, Valenzuela scored his first collegiate goal and added an assist, while Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) recorded his first collegiate point, an assist. Amlong added his first goal as a member of the Tigers. He also scored a goal as a member of UMass Lowell in 2013-14.

In goal, RIT's Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) made his collegiate debut, stopping 23 of 26 shots. He made seven saves in the first period, 10 in the second, and six in the final period.

Colgate's Tyson Spink scored a pair of goals and added an assist, reaching the 100-career point mark.Twin brother Tylor Spink added a goal and an assist, while Mike Borkowski and Jake Kulevich also scored.

The Tigers scored their first two power-play goals of the season in four chances, while Colgate was 1-for-4. The Raiders held a 28-23 edge in shots.

Despite the strong third period effort, RIT head coach Wayne Wilson felt his team sat back too long for the first 40 minutes.

"I thought we were very tentative early on instead of being aggressive, as this was a winnable road game," said Wilson. "Our players need to get out of their comfort zone and earn tough wins on the road. We didn't show up until the third period and that is unacceptable."

Both teams came out a little tentative in the opening period, especially over the first eight minutes, as neither squad could get a shot on goal.

Colgate would get on the board first, just before the halfway point of the period, as Tyson Spink was able to pick up a loose puck at the side of the net and beat a sliding short for his second goal of the season and make it 1-0.

RIT would answer right back 2:57 later on the power-play, as all five guys on the unit touched the puck in succession, leading to Valenzuela's first collegiate goal. Kerins got the puck in the high slot and faked a shot, drawing two defenders. Kerins fed a pass to Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers), who one-timed a pass to Valenzuela, who was all alone with nothing but net to shoot at from the left side of the goal, tying the game at 1-1.

Short was not tested often in the opening period, but in the final minute with RIT down a man, the freshman goaltender came up with three big stops to keep the game tied.

Colgate would get the only two goals 1:17 apart in a physical second period, in which RIT found themselves in the penalty box more often than not. RIT would have just seven shots on goal after 40 minutes of play, down 3-1.

Tylor Spink would make it 2-1 Raiders 3:37 into the period on a power-play, taking a feed from his twin brother Tyson on the rush and ripping a shot past Short from the slot to the far side. Just 1:17 later, Kulevich slammed home a rebound on the doorstep after Short made an excellent save on Hunter Racine on a breakaway. Nobody picked up Kulevich, who was all alone in front.

Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) had a good chance for the Tigers later in the period, ringing a shot off the crossbar from the slot.

With 8:28 gone in the third, RIT cut the lead to 3-2, when Amlong wired a one-timer from the left point past Finn off a feed from Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs). Valenzuela kept the puck along the wall, waited out a defender and sent a pass to Mitchell at the right point. Mitchell sent a perfect pass over to Amlong, who ripped a shot past Finn for the goal.

Colgate leads the all-time series between the two schools, 9-1. They have met four times since RIT moved to Division I in 2005, with Colgate winning all four meetings. The two teams last met on Oct. 10, 2013 at Ritter Arena, with the Raiders winning 4-1.

Tonight was the final time RIT will play at Starr Rink, as Colgate opens a new arena next season.
 
After this weekend, the Tigers play 28 of their final 29 games against Atlantic Hockey foes, starting with consecutive road series at American International on Oct. 30-31 and Army West Point on Nov. 6-7. The last non-conference game is at nationally-ranked Boston College on Nov. 28.

The two teams head to RIT for the series finale at the Gene Polisseni Center Saturday at 7:05 p.m. The game is officially a sellout, so RIT president Bill Destler will dye his hair orange between the second and third period.

"We need to be much better in front of what should be a great crowd tomorrow night," said Wilson. "Hopefully we can use the momentum gained in the third period and get off to a much better start."