ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (6-8-1, 4-6-1 AHA) fell by a score of 6-4 to visiting Sacred Heart University (5-8-2, 5-6-1 AHA) from the Gene Polisseni Center Saturday evening.

RIT held leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3 before Sacred Heart came back, scoring the final three goals to earn the win.

Matt Tugnutt scored two goals for the Pioneers, while Austin McIlmurray scored the game-winning goal and added an assist. Ruslan Rakhmatov, Nick Boyagian, and Marc Johnstone also scored for the Pioneers. Goaltender Josh Benson made 24 saves to pick up his second straight win.

Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings) scored two power-play goals and added an assist to lead the way offensively for the Tigers. Shawn Cameron (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Cumberland Grads) and Bryson Traptow (Calgary, Alberta/Camrose Kodiaks) also scored for RIT, while Dan Willett (Bayville, NY/Bloomington Thunder) and Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) added two assists apiece. Goaltender Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) took the loss, making 25 saves.

Sacred Heart out-shot RIT, 31-28. RIT scored a season-high three power-play goals, going 3-for-8 with the man-advantage, but also allowed two shorthanded goals in a game for the first time since March 2, 2017. The Pioneers were 0-for-6 on the power-play.

"We made too many mistakes at key times," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "We had chances to extend our lead and we couldn't do it. We need to pull through this adversity as a team and get some confidence back."

The Tigers got on the board first, 4:24 into the game on a 5-on-3 power-play, as Brubacher hammered a pass from Willett from the high slot past Benson for his third goal of the season. Valenzuela also assisted on the goal.

RIT would add to its lead with a second power-play goal with 5:32 left in the period, this time a 6-on-4 tally as Drackett was pulled for an extra attacker on a delayed penalty. Salloum fed a pass to defensive partner Chris McKay (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders). McKay spotted Cameron alone in front and the junior defender redirected in the pass for his third goal of the season. The assist was Salloum's first collegiate point.

Sacred Heart would answer on the ensuing penalty, as Tugnutt swatted a defense to defense pass out of the air at the Pioneers blue line and came in all alone on Drackett. Tugnutt fired a shot in off the right post and in four his fourth goal of the season, a shorthanded tally to cut the RIT lead to 2-1. It was RIT's first shorthanded goal allowed of the season.

Brubacher would score his second power-play goal of the game 8:46 into the second period in similar fashion to his first goal, one-timing a feed from Willett from the high slot through Benson for his fourth goal of the season. Once again, Valenzuela earned the second assist on the goal, fishing the puck out a scrum along the left side wall to Willett at the point.

The Pioneers would respond with two goals 2:31 late in the second period to tie the game at 3-3. Boyagian scored his first collegiate goal with 2:39 left in the period, intercepting a clearing attempt from a RIT player in the slot and ripping a wrist shot over the shoulder of Drackett and off the crossbar and in to make it 3-2 RIT.

With just eight seconds left in the period, Johnstone stole the puck after an errant pass at his own blueline while shorthanded and sped in on Drackett. Johnstone made a nifty move going backhand to forehand for the breakaway goal, Sacred Heart's second shorthanded marker of the game.  

RIT would regain the lead, 4-3, just 2:20 into third period, as Traptow took a feed from Ryan Kruper (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) in the neutral zone, sped in to the Pioneers zone and fired a shot that deflected off a defender and changed direction to get past Benson for the goal. It was Traptow's first goal of the season.

Rakhmatov would tie the game on a long shot from the point on a delayed penalty with 15:50 left to tie the game at 4-4. McIlmurray would score the game-winner with 8:14 left, taking advantage of a giveaway inside the RIT zone to make it 5-4 Pioneers and Tugnutt put the game away with an empty-netter with 1:02 remaining.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 24-11-2. Mike Lee scored two goals, including the game-winner with five seconds left in overtime to lift Sacred Heart to a 4-3 win last night. Ryan Kruper (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders), Brubacher and Alden Dupuis (Edmonton, Alberta/Bonnyville Pontiacs) scored for RIT. The two teams also meet at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. on Feb. 15-16.

RIT wraps up the fall semester with a home game against AHA foe Niagara University on Saturday, Dec. 15 at 7:05 p.m. It marks the first of three straight meetings between the two schools, as they come off the holiday break to play a home-and-home series on Jan. 4-5, 2019.