TROY, NY – Despite controlling play for many stretches throughout, the RIT men's hockey team (1-3-1) fell to host Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1-3-1) by a score of 6-3 in front of 4,201 fans at from the Houston Field House Saturday night.

Caleb Cameron (Sundridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones), Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers), and Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) scored for the Tigers in the loss, while Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) had a career-high two assists.

In goal, Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) took the loss in relief, stopping 15 of 17 shots over the final 38:19 of regulation. Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) made his first start of the season, making seven saves on 10 shots before being pulled after Rensselaer's third goal.

Evan Tironese led the Engineers with five points on a goal and four assists, while Rochester native Riley Bourbonnais added two goals and an assist. Jared Prapavessis and Jake Wood also scored for Rensselaer. In net, Cam Hackett made 28 saves in the win.

Shots were even at 31-31. Rensselaer was 2-for-4 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-2. The Engineers scored both a shorthanded and empty net tally.

"I thought our effort was much better tonight, as we did a great job playing 5-on-5," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "Our special teams play let us down tonight, and that was the difference."

Cameron got the Tigers on the board 9:56 into the contest, as he slid a puck off the skate of Hackett on a 2-on-1 break for his second goal of the weekend and third of the season. Girduckis grabbed a loose puck at his own line, as a Rensselaer player slipped, leading to the rush. Girduckis feathered a perfect pass to Cameron, who cut to the net, but lost control of the puck as he was crossing the crease. Undaunted, Cameron tapped the loose puck from behind the goal line off Hackett's skate and in.

RIT had a chance to go up 2-0 when Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) was in position to grab a loose puck in the neutral zone and come in all alone, but he was hauled down, leading to a Tiger power-play.

On the ensuing power-play, it was Rensselaer who would answer, as Bourbonnais would cruise into the zone on a 1-on-2 break and fire a hard shot from just inside the blue line that caught Short by surprise and beat him glove side to tie the game at 1-1. It was Bourbonnais' second goal of the season.

The two teams combined for five goals in a wild second period, as Rensselaer held a 4-3 lead after 40 minutes of play.

The Engineers would score twice in a span of 33 seconds to start the period and take a 3-1 lead, as Prapavassis blasted a shot in from the point on the power-play, and Tironese beat Short on a wrap around.

Wilson would pull Short in favor of Rotolo and RIT instantly responded, cutting the Rensselaer lead to 3-2 just 4:01 into the period, as Valenzuela took a feed from Girduckis in front, waited out Hackett and roofed a shot just under the crossbar for his second goal of the season. Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) would also assist on the goal.

Brown would tie the game at 3-3 with 5:55 left in the second, ou-tmuscling a Engineers defender in front to slip a rebound of a Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) shot past Hackett for his second goal of the weekend and third of the season. Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) also assisted on the goal.

The Engineers would take advantage of a RIT penalty and regain the lead with 1:44 left in the frame, as Wilson fired a rocket just under the crossbar from the high slot for his third goal of the season.

RIT dominated play throughout much of the third period, but could not get the tying goal. Early on Brody Valette (High River, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines) had a point blank attempt with Hackett out of the net blocked by defenseman Parker Reno. Mark Logan (Calgary, Alberta/Brooks Bandits ) had a golden chance a few shifts after denied by Hackett. Moments later, Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines ) beat Hackett with a hard wrist shot, but unfortunately it rang off the crossbar and out.

With just over five minutes left in regulation, Max Mikowski (Cheekotwaga, NY/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) thought he had tied the game, sliding home a rebound in front off a shot from Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings), but the whistle was blown and play halted before the puck crossed the line.

Bourbonnais would score his second goal of the game with 4:55 left in regulation, taking a feed from Tironese on a 2-on-0 rush after a Tiger fell in the neutral zone, making it a 5-3 game. Wood would add an empty-netter with 1:18 left.

Rensselaer leads the all-time series between the two schools, 6-1-0. Tonight's meeting was the first between the two schools since 2011.

Both teams were in action last night, as RIT fell on the road at Union, 5-2, and Rensselaer tied Niagara, 3-3. Brown had a goal and an assist last night for the Tigers.

RIT returns to action next weekend with a pair of league games at Atlantic Hockey foe Bentley University. Both Friday and Saturday's games from the John A. Ryan Skating Center begin at 7:05 p.m. Overall, RIT in the midst of playing seven of eight games away from Rochester.

"I thought our young guys took another step forward and overall, we did a lot of good things tonight and generated plenty of chances," said Wilson. "We have a tough stretch of league games coming up, so we need to continue improving as a team."