ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (4-8-2, 4-3-1 Atlantic Hockey) snapped a five-game winless streak in a big way, scoring a season-high six goals in a 6-3 victory over Atlantic Hockey leader Robert Morris (8-3-3, 7-2-3 AHC) in front of 3,043 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center on Saturday.

Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) scored a pair of goals, while Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) added a goal and an assist. Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers), Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers), and Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) also scored for the Tigers, while Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) and Greg Amlong (O'Fallon, MO/UMass Lowell) dished out two assists each.

In goal, freshman Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) rebounded from a slow start to stop 21 shots for his second collegiate win. He stopped 17 of 18 shots over the final two periods.

Brady Ferguson led the Colonials with three assists, while David Friedmann added a goal and assist. Brandon Denham also scored for Robert Morris. In net, Dalton Izyk suffered his first loss of the season, stopping 25 shots.

RIT out-shot Robert Morris, 31-24, including 24-10 over the first two periods. Robert Morris, who has the top power-play in the nation, was 2-for-5 with the man-advantage, although RIT came up with two big penalty kills and scored a shorthanded goal in the third period. RIT was 1-for-5 on the power-play.

"I thought we showed a lot of character tonight and fought well all game," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "I thought our freshman did a real good job tonight, we had a lot of guys step up."

Despite RIT opening the scoring and dominating play for several stretches during the period, Robert Morris held a 2-1 lead after one period of play on a pair of power-play markers.

Kuqali gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead just 2:20 into the contest, firing a shot from the left face-off circle over the glove of Izyk for his first goal of the season. RIT kept the puck in down low, with Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) getting the puck back to Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) at the right point. Norrish found his defensive partner on the left side and Kuqali was able to take a few strides in before unleashing the hard shot past Izyk.

After Kuqali's goal, fans littered the ice with stuffed annuals, as it was the annual Tiger toss. All stuffed animals will be donated to the Rochester Regional Health Pediatric Unit.

Robert Morris would strike back with a pair of power-play goals just over five minutes apart to grab the lead. At the 8:28 mark, Denham found himself alone in front and slipped a backhander from the doorstep past Short for his 10th goal of the season. Just 5:07 later, Friedmann took a feed from Chase Golightly at the point and wristed a shot from 50-feet out that found the back of the net to make it 2-1 Colonials.

RIT exploded for three second period goals to take control and lead 4-2 after 40 minutes of play.

Girduckis tied the game at 2-2 just 2:15 into the period, as he crashed the net and converted a rebound in front after Izyk made the save on a backhander from Garrett McMullen (Churchville, NY/Trail Smoke Eaters) on the right side.

Moments later, Brown had Izyk beat in front, but fired his shot off the right post and crossbar and out.

Powell scored consecutive goals 3:04 apart to give RIT a 4-2 lead. He tallied his first at the 11:35 mark after great work from the Brown, Dan Schuler (Webster, NY/Powell River Kings), Valenzuela line, who kept the Colonials hemmed in their own zone for nearly a minute. Amlong won a battle behind the Robert Morris net, chipping a pass to Brown, who saw Powell darting towards the cage. Powell one-timed the pass past Izyk for his fourth goal of the year and a 3-2 edge for RIT.

Powell would get his second goal of the period and fifth of the year on the power-play, standing in the slot and deflecting a point shot from Norrish past Izyk to make it 4-2. Mark Golberg (Ottawa, Ontario/Cumberland Grads) also assisted on the goal.

Izyk would be pulled in favor of Andrew Pikul, only to return 41 seconds later.

Robert Morris would pull to 4-3 with 10:54 left in regulation, as Bontje tallied his first collegiate goal, dashing to the net to slip a shot between Short's leg from in front after a pass from Alex Tonge deflected off Ferguson, right to Bontje.

The Colonials would keep coming, but RIT kept them at bay and with 5:01 left in regulation, Valenzuela sent the Polisseni Center crowd into a frenzy with a dazzling goal, taking a feed from Andrew Miller (Chicago, IL/Chicago Steel) inside his own zone and going coast-to-coast through a few defenders, rocketing a shot past Izyk for his fourth goal of the season, making it 5-3.

Mitchell would score RIT's first shorthanded goal with 3:43 left to put the game away, going in alone on a 2-on-0 breakaway with Girduckis, beating Izyk top shelf for his second goal of the season. Girduckis broke up a pass at the Colonials blueline and after a player fell, tipped a pass to Mitchell, as they came in alone for the goal.

Robert Morris leads the all-time series between the two schools, 10-6-4. This weekend marks the only time the two schools will meet in the 2015-16 regular season after meeting four times last year. Last night, Terry Shafer stopped all 37 shots he faced as Robert Morris handed RIT its first shutout loss at the Gene Polisseni Center, 4-0. RIT is 3-4-3 all-time against Robert Morris in Rochester, including a 2-2 mark at the Gene Polisseni Center.

The six goals for RIT tied a season-high, set on Oct. 31 at American International.

The Tigers conclude play in the 2015 calendar year, with a home-and-home series against Atlantic Hockey foe Niagara. RIT hosts Niagara and Friday, Dec. 11 with the two teams meeting at Dwyer Arena in Niagara on Saturday, Dec. 12 at the same time. The game on Dec. 11 will be aired on TSN2 in Canada.