ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (11-18-1, 11-13-0 Atlantic Hockey) fell to visiting College of the Holy Cross (13-10-6, 10-7-6 Atlantic Hockey), 4-0 in front of 2,685 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center on Friday evening.
 
Holy Cross broke open a tight game with three third period goals, including two just 18 seconds apart. Johnny Coughlin, Scott Pooley, Brett Mulcahy, and Mike Barrett scored for the Crusaders, who moved into a tie for third in the league standings.
 
Crusaders goaltender Paul Berrafato stopped all 26 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season and sixth of his career. He made two big saves on Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) and Ryan Kruper (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) in the third period to preserve the shutout.
 
Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) led the Tigers with five shots on goal. In net, Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) made 22 saves.
 
RIT held a slight 27-26 edge in shots on goal. The Crusaders were 1-for-4 with the power-play, while RIT was 0-for-2.

"I thought we played a good first period, but the power-play goal right at the end deflated us," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "When things went bad in the third period, we weren't able to overcome adversity. We had a few chances, but were really unable to get anything going."
 
Holy Cross would get on the board first in the final minute of the period on the power-play, as Coughlin fired in a rebound from the right circle through the legs of Rotolo after Lopez's original shot was blocked by a RIT player. The power-play goal was Coughlin's third tally of the season.
 
Girduckis has two good chances not long before the Holy Cross goal. He tipped a point shot by Chris McKay (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) that was stopped by Berrafato. The rebound came right back to Girduckis, who had his backhand attempt stuffed by the Holy Cross goaltender as well.
 
Holy Cross would have some great chances in the second period, out-shooting RIT, 11-8, but Rotolo stood tall to keep it a 1-0 game after 40 minutes of play.
 
Rotolo made a great save on Ryan Ferrill midway through the period as he got behind the RIT defense and tied to go high, but Rotolo was there for the big save. Moments later, he made a couple timely stops on Pooley and Barrett on a Holy Cross power-play.
 
RIT would get its best chance of the period, while shorthanded, as Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines ) fired a long shot from inside his own zone that bounced and handcuffed Berrafato forcing him to make a save. Berrafato could not corral the rebound and dove into the slot for the puck but missed, giving Powell a look at an open cage from just inside the blueline, but Powell's off balance wrist shot whistled wide.
 
Pooley and Mulcahy gave the Crusaders a 3-0 lead with goals 18 seconds apart right before the five-minute mark of the third period. Barrett would complete the scoring at the 9:18 mark.
 
This weekend marks the only two meetings between the two schools this season. RIT holds a 24-13-7 edge in the all-time series, including a 20-8-7 mark since 2006.
 
With the loss, RIT falls into a tie for seventh with Bentley in the Atlantic Hockey standings.

RIT and Holy Cross complete their weekend series Saturday night from the Gene Polisseni Center at 7:05 p.m.