NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (8-7-1, 8-5-0 Atlantic Hockey) won its fifth straight game and moved back over .500, rolling to a resounding 6-2 win on the road at Atlantic Hockey rival Niagara University (2-11-3, 2-6-2 Atlantic Hockey) at Dwyer Arena on Saturday evening.
 
In what has become a prevailing theme as the season has progressed, a balanced offensive and defensive attack led the way. Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) scored a career-high two goals, while Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) and Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) each tallied a goal and an assist. Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) and Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) also scored goals, while Shawn Cameron (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Cumberland Grads) and Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) dished out a pair of assists apiece.
 
In all, 11 different Tigers found the scoresheet in tonight's win. This season, nine different players have between 10 and 15 points. RIT has found its offensive touch over the five-game winning streak, scoring 25 goals over that span.
 
The Tigers out-shot Niagara, 40-14, including 28-7 after the opening period. RIT, who tied a Division I program record with six power-play goals in last night's 7-1 win over Niagara, added two more tonight, going 2-for-5. Niagara was 1-for-6 with the man-advantage.
 
The 14 shots allowed tonight by the Tigers set a Division I program record for fewest allowed in a game. RIT goaltender Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) won his fifth straight contest, stopping 12 shots.
 
"We got ourselves into penalty problems to start, but after that I thought we played really well after," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "Getting the two late first period goals got us going and we did a real good job defensively as well. This was a great weekend for us, getting a key four points."
 
Derek Brown and Stanislav Dzahkov scored for Niagara. Jackson Teichroeb took the loss in net, stopping 34 shots.
 
With the win, RIT moves into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 16 points, two ahead of Army West Point. RIT does not play a league game again until Jan. 6-7, 2017, when Sacred Heart comes to town.

The Tigers came out and immediately put themselves into a hole by taking three consecutive penalties over the first 7:51. Niagara opened the scoring on its third power-play of the game, as Brown put Niagara up 1-0.

RIT would strike back later in the period, as Powell fired a wrist shot past Teichroeb off a feed from Caleb Cameron (Sundridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) to tie the game at 1-1 with 4:37 left in the frame. It marked Powell's fifth straight game with a goal. The Tigers would convert had a power-play opportunity in the last two minutes of the period when Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) connected off a turnover in the crease.

Like last night, the Tigers used a dominant second period to pull away, scoring three times to take a 5-1 lead after 40 minutes of play. Smith scored twice in a span of 4:50 to give RIT a 4-1 lead and Valenzuela scored on a beautiful individual effort with 54 seconds left in the period for RIT's fifth goal.

Kerins scored his third goal of the weekend and seventh of the year for RIT 3:28 into the third to make it 6-1. Niagara's Dzakhov would tally just under two minutes later to complete the scoring.

RIT is now 6-1-3 against Niagara since the start of the 2014-15 season. Last night, RIT scored a Division I team record six power-play goals in a 7-1 win. This weekend marked the only two regular season meetings between the two schools in 2016-17.

RIT is right back in action next weekend with a pair of non-conference home games against Providence College of Hockey East. Both games from the Gene Polisseni Center start at 7:05 p.m.
 
"We are excited to see where we stand next weekend against a tough non-conference opponent in Providence," said Wilson. "We want to keep this momentum going into the holiday break."