ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (10-16-1, 10-11-0 Atlantic Hockey) suffered a 6-3 home loss to visiting Bentley University (9-12-5, 8-8-4 Atlantic Hockey) in front a season-high crowd of 3,382 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center on Saturday.

Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) scored a goal and added an assist for the Tigers, while Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) added a pair of assists. Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) and Jordan Peacock (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Cougars) also scored for RIT. Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) took the loss in net with 18 saves.

Bentley's Jonathan Desbiens scored a hat-trick to lead the Falcons offensively, who scored three times in the third period to snap a 3-3 tie and hand the Tigers their fifth straight loss. Kyle Schmidt scored the game-winning power-play goal 2:25 into the third and added a shorthanded empty-netter in the final minute. Drew Callin also scored for Bentley, while Charlie Donners and Max French added three assists apiece. Bentley goaltender Jayson Argue made 33 saves for the victory.

RIT out-shot Bentley, 36-24. RIT was 0-for-5 on the power-play, while Bentley was 1-for-3.

"I thought we played well over the first two periods, but Bentley won the little battles and when it was crunch time, found a way to win," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "We need to keep working hard as we battle through adversity."

The Tigers got off to a tremendous start, carrying play for the first half of the period. The fast start paid off for RIT, as Brown would get his team-leading 14th goal of the season 3:55 into the contest, taking a feed from Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) at the side of the net and roofing a shot over Argue to make it 1-0.

Bentley would tie the game at 1-1 at the 10:59 mark, as Desbiens would convert a feed from French on a 3-on-1 break and slide the puck between the pads of a sliding Rotolo for his second goal in as many nights. Girduckis had a golden chance to give RIT back the lead in the final minutes of the period, taking a feed from Valenzuela and trying to slide the puck around Argue, but was unable to.

Both teams scored twice in the second period, with Bentley grabbing a 3-1 lead with goals 47 seconds apart and RIT answering with two tallies 1:27 apart late in the period to tie it.

Callin would take the puck away from a Tiger player who slipped in the RIT corner, walk out in front and slip a backhand between the legs of Rotolo for his fifth goal of the season. 3:22 into the period. Desbiens would tally his second of the game 47 seconds later, taking a feed from Charlie Donners and rifling in his own rebound after Rotolo made the initial save in close to make it 3-1.

RIT would answer later in the period with two quick strikes of its own. Peacock would use every bit of his 6-foot-6 frame to swoop behind the Bentley net on a rush and deftly beat Argue on a wrap around for his second goal of the season, cutting the lead to 3-2 with 5:31 left. Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings) and Darren Brady (Lake Orion, MI/New Jersey Titans) drew assists on the goal.

Girduckis would tie the game at 3-3, converting a perfect goal mouth feed from Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines ) past Argue for his third goal of the season. Valenzuela led Abt into the zone, who then made the excellent pass across to Girduckis, who snuck behind the Falcons defense.

In the third period, Schmidt would score on a 5-on-3 power-play 2:25 into the period, deflecting a perfect feed from Tanner Jago to take a 4-3 lead.

With RIT mounting pressure and the crowd into the game, Bentley would score a big insurance goal as Desbiens would complete the hat-trick, beating Rotolo up high to make it 5-3 with 7:33 left. Schmidt would tally the empty netter after a face-off win in the defensive zone to close the scoring.

Tonight marked the fourth and final regular season meeting between the two schools this season, as both teams won twice on the road. The road team has now won the last nine meetings dating back to the 2014-15 season. RIT is 21-13-2 all-time against the Falcons.

RIT returns to action next weekend on Feb. 3-4 for a pair of road games at Atlantic Hockey rival Robert Morris University. Both contests begin at 7:05 p.m.