ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (8-10-2, 7-6-1 AHA) dropped its second game of the weekend, 4-0 to visiting Air Force (11-10-3, 6-8-2 AHA) in front of 2,543 fans at the Gene Polisseni Center Saturday night.

Marshall Bowery scored a pair of third period goals, while Ben Kucera scored a first period goal and Matt Serratore added an empty netter for the Falcons. In net, Billy Christopoulos was tremendous, turning away all 30 shots he faced for the shutout, his first of the year. He was especially stout in the second period, turning aside all 17 RIT shots.

RIT's offense was held off the scoreboard for the first time this season. The Tigers held a 30-21 edge in shots. Including a 25-12 advantage over the first two periods. Goaltender Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) stopped 17 of 20 shots.

RIT was 0-for-5 with the man-advantage, while holding Air Force scoreless on two attempts.

"We needed to get a goal in the second period and get rewarded after playing a great second period and  weren't able to gain any momentum in the third period, which proved to be the difference," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson."

Air Force scored the only goal of the opening period, as Kucera fired in a cross-ice feed from Evan Giesler on a 2-on-1 rush, 7:23 into the contest.

Shawn Cameron (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Cumberland Grads) just missed tying the game moments later, getting robbed by the pad of Christopoulos after in behind the defense and cutting to the net off the rush.

The Falcons held a 9-8 edge in shots after one period, killing off a pair of RIT power-plays. Both teams were stout defensively, limiting the amount of quality chances.

RIT dominated play territorially, out-shooting Air Force 17-3 in the second period, but could not solve Christopoulos, as it remained 1-0 after 40 minutes.

Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) had two golden chances from in close two minutes into the period, but was stopped by Christopoulos. Moments later, Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) was denied in tight. In the final minute of the period, Willett had a golden chance from point-blank range stopped and with just five seconds left, Powell fired a shot from the slot that Christopulos got a piece of but got by him, skittering just inches wide of the net.

Air Force would extend its lead to 2-0 just 1:50 into the third period, as Bowery collected a loose puck in the neutral zone, came into the RIT zone, cut to the net and flipped a shot from a tight angle over Short for his second goal of the season.

Bowery would give the Falcons a commanding 3-0 lead with 6:09 left, taking a feed from Kyle Haak and firing a shot from the right circle past Short on an odd-man rush for his second goal of the period and third goal of the year.

Serratore tallied an empty-net goal with 3:02 left to complete the scoring, blocking a shot and following the carom into the neutral zone where he had a clear path to the goal.

Tonight's game was the fourth and final regular season meeting of the regular season between the two squads, as Air Force won the season series, 3-1. On Nov. 17, Air Force earned a 4-3 win, while RIT rebounded for a 3-2 win the next night in Colorado Springs. Ryan Kruper (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) broke a 2-2 tie with a power-play goal late in regulation to lift RIT to the victory. Last night, Air Force scored two first period goals and hung on for a 2-1 win. Christopoulos made 25 saves for the Falcons, while Powell scored RIT's lone goal.

Air Force leads the all-time series between the two schools, 30-21-4.

RIT is right back in action at 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday evening at league foe Mercyhurst. The game was originally supposed to be played in late December, but was postponed due to weather.

"We will have to regroup and be ready to go Tuesday night," said Wilson.