COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – Both the RIT men's hockey team (12-10-5, 12-5-4 Atlantic Hockey) and host Air Force (13-9-5, 11-5-5 Atlantic Hockey) came into Friday's game riding long unbeaten streaks. Both continued those unbeaten streaks, as the two teams skated to a 2-2 tie in front of a sellout crowd of 2,519 fans at Cadet Ice Arena.

RIT extended its unbeaten streak to eight games overall (5-0-3), while Air Force has now gone nine straight games without a loss (6-0-3). The Tigers extended their unbeaten streak on the road against Atlantic Hockey foes to 11 games (9-0-2). It was also RIT's third consecutive tie, a program record.

With the tie, RIT maintained its edge for second place in the league standings, one ahead of Air Force and Holy Cross, who also tied this evening. Robert Morris defeated Sacred Heart, moving two points ahead of RIT for the top spot.

Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) and Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) scored power-play goals for the Tigers. In net, Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) made 22 saves.

Ben Carey scored both goals for the Falcons, while Shane Starrett made 20 saves.

Air Force out-shot RIT, 24-22 in a tightly contested contest. RIT scored on both its power-play chances, while holding Air Force to 0-for-2 with the man-advantage. The Falcons scored a shorthanded goal in the second period.

"I thought it was a hard fought game, but overall we played with a lack of energy and weren't overly sharp," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "Give credit to Air Force, they were all over us all game, and won a lot of the little battles."

Neither team scored in a tight defensive first period of play, as the squads combined for just 12 shots on goal.

Short was called upon to make two great saves in frame, first on Ben Carey on a 3-on-2 rush, getting across to make a nice save from the slot. Late in the period, Short robbed Erik Baskin on another odd-man rush getting his glove on a great chance from in tight.

Valenzuela had RIT's best chance of the period, making a nifty move in front to side step a Falcons defender, twirling around, and firing a low shot that nearly went under the pad of Starrett but stayed out. Starrett looked behind him, but he had the puck covered.

RIT opened the second period with a power-play and the two teams traded goals 43 seconds apart before the two-minute mark.

The Falcons would get on the board first 1:06 into the period, as Carey stole a loose puck at the RIT blue-line and darted in on a shorthanded 3-on-2 rush. Using his wingers as decoys, Carey darted into the slot and wired a shot past Short for the shorthanded goal.

RIT would tally on the power-play 43 seconds later, as Powell buried a rebound on the doorstep in front for his team-best 11th goal of the season. Greg Amlong (O'Fallon, MO/UMass Lowell) fired a hard shot from the point that Starrett stopped, with the rebound coming to Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) at the right side of the net. Brown shoveled a pass across to Powell who had an open net for his seventh power-play goal of the year.

Play picked up after that, with few whistles. The Falcons would regain the lead with 4:32 left in the period, as Carey crashed the net and took a perfect feed from Johnny Hrabovsky and redirected a shot from in close past Short for his seventh goal of the season.

RIT came out with more jump in the third period and it paid off, as Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) rocketed a bullet of a one-timer past Starrett up high for his sixth goal of the season with 11:30 to play in regulation. Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) fired a pass to Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) at the point, who one-touched a feed to his twin brother on the right wing boards, leading to the one-timer.

From there, RIT kept coming, turning up the intensity as regulation came to a close. In overtime, RIT held the edge territorially, but could not get the winning goal. Valenzuela had a great chance in the final minute, redirecting a feed from the point, but Starrett made the save. The rebound was lying to the side the net and Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) had a whack at it, but his shot sailed over the cage.

The Tigers held Air Force to just five shots on goal during the third period and overtime.

Air Force leads the all-time series between the two schools, 22-19-4, including a 20-16-4 mark in RIT's Division I era. The 40 meetings since 2005 is the most for RIT against a team in the Division I era. Last season, RIT went 3-1-0 against the Falcons, including a two-game sweep from the Polisseni Center in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals.

RIT and Air Force conclude its regular season on Saturday evening from Cadet Ice Arena at 9:05 EST.