ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (10-13-1, 10-8-0 Atlantic Hockey) fired 46 shots on goal, but fell to visiting Canisius College (9-10-5, 8-4-4 Atlantic Hockey) 3-1 in front of 2,413 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center Friday night.

Mike Sabatini and Ryan Schmelzer scored second period goals for the Golden Griffins, while Felix Chamberland scored a third period power-play goal. In net, Charles Williams was named the number one star, stopping 45 of 46 shots for his ninth win of the season. he made 16 first period saves, 14 in the second, and 15 in the third.

Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) scored a first period goal for RIT, while Caleb Cameron (Sundridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) fired a career-high nine shots on goal. Goaltender Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) made 25 saves in the loss.

RIT dominated the shot counter for the third time in three meetings with Canisius this season, out-shooting the Golden Griffins, 46-28. RIT has out-shot Canisius 131-71 in the three meetings this season, with Williams stopping 129 of those shots.

RIT out-shot Canisius, 46-28 and attempted 81 shots overall to just 46 for Canisius. The Tigers were 0-for-2 on the power-play, while Canisius scored on its lone chance with the man-advantage.

"We just have to keep plugging along, as this was exactly the game we saw (against Canisius) early in the season, as we had some good looks and just couldn't get a bounce," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. (Canisius) is very comfortable playing with the lead and we have to be patient, but put pressure on them as well."

The Tigers held a territorial advantage for most of the first period, attempting 33 shots to 13 for Canisius and holding a 17-9 edge in shots on goal, while taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

RIT opened the scoring 3:40 into the contest, as Valenzuela potted a perfect goal mouth feed from Brown on what turned out to be a 2-on-0 rush for his sixth goal of the season. The play started with a big save on the other end by Rotolo, with the puck coming to Darren Brady (Lake Orion, MI/New Jersey Titans) in the corner. Brady chipped a perfect pass off the boards to Brown in the neutral zone, who along with Valenzuela beat the Canisius defenders down the ice, setting up the odd-man rush.

Rotolo would be called upon to make a sliding glove save from in close on Jeff Murray on a 4-on-1 odd-man rush to keep the lead. Moments later, Jimmy Mazza fired a shot through a screen that went off the left post and out.

The Tigers would seize command over the final half of the period, hemming Canisius in its own zone for a majority of the time. Brody Valette (High River, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines) nearly made it 2-0 Tigers late in the period, firing a shot through a screen that beat Williams, but went off the left post and stayed out.  

Canisius would score the only two second period goals to take a 2-1 lead, despite RIT holding a 14-12 edge in shots.

The Golden Griffins would tie the game at 1-1 just 3:49 into the period, as Murray would cause a turnover inside the RIT zone and feed Sabatini, whose wrist shot from the slot would trickle between the legs of Rotolo for his first goal of the season.

Just 3:24 later, Canisius would receive a fortuitous bounce off the linesman's skate as RIT was attempting to clear the puck out of their zone and take advantage. Dylan McLaughlin would grab the loose puck and send Schmelzer in on the right wing. Schmelzer faked a shot and got Rotolo out of the position before sliding the puck in for his sixth goal of the year.

Once again, RIT would spend plenty of time in the Canisius zone, but could not convert. Brady had a glorious chance from the top of the slot that beat Williams, but clanged off the crossbar. Moments later, Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines ) whistled a hard shot that Williams snared with the glove through traffic.

The Tigers would continue to pepper Williams in the third period, out-shooting Canisius, 15-7, but could not get the tying goal.

The Golden Griffins would get a power-play with 3:52 left in regulation and take advantage 21 seconds later, as Chamberland would bat a rebound from in close out of midair of a shot by Schmelzer for his fifth goal of the season.

From there, Canisius was content to send the puck down the ice every chance they could, icing the puck seven times over the final three minutes to hang on for the win. Rotolo was pulled for the extra attacker with 2:08 left and the Tigers had a handful of chances, but just could not solve Williams.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 60-23-2, including a 21-13-1 edge since the Tigers moved to Division I in 2005. Canisius has won all three meetings between the two schools this season, despite RIT firing 131 shots on net.

The two teams wrap up their regular season series at 7:35 p.m. Saturday night from HARBORCENTER in Buffalo.