COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – Junior goalie Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) made a season-high 43 saves as the RIT (4-1-0, 1-0-0 AHA) men's hockey team beat Air Force Academy (0-5-0, 0-1-0 AHA) 2-1 in the Atlantic Hockey opener from Cadet Ice Arena Thursday evening. The win snaps a four-game losing streak to the Falcons.

Drackett made 43 saves, including 16 in the second period, to improve to 4-1 on the season. Shawn Cameron (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Cumberland Grads) and Elijah Gonsalves (Scarborough, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) each scored for the Tigers. Jake Hamacher (Corona, CA/Dubuque Fighting Saints), Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings), Andrew Petrucci (Toronto, Ontario/Toronto Patriots) and Will Calverley (Scarborough, Ontario/Chilliwack Chiefs) each had an assist. 

Matt Pulver scored the Air Force goal. Zach Larocque took the loss in net for the Falcons, making nine saves.

Shots were 44-11 in favor of Air Force. Face-offs were even at 32-32. RIT went 1-for-3 on the power play and held Air Force scoreless on four power play chances.

"We have played some great games out here before, but that was about as bad as we could play tonight." said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "We had a couple of good moments, and our penalty-kill was pretty good, but Drackett was the main reason we got the win."
 
Despite being outshot 15-6 in the first period, the Tigers led 1-0 after 20 minutes. Cameron gave the Tiger the lead with his Division I-leading fourth power play goal of the season at 18:45 of the period. 
 
The Falcons were called for too many players on the ice. Hamacher found Cameron with a pass and he slid a shot past Larocque, who was scrambling in his net, to give the Tigers the lead. 

Drackett was sharp, stopping all 15 shots he faced in the period. 

Air Force continued to apply the pressure in the second period, firing 16 shots on target, but Drackett kept the Falcons stymied. He made a big blocker save when Max Harper broke in with a burst of speed, firing a quick wrist shot that Drackett turned aside. 

Andrew Rinaldi (Pierrefonds, Quebec/Wellington Dukes) had a chance for RIT with a quick shot from the face-off circle at 11:13, and with five minutes to play in the period, Regan Seiferling (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) fired a shot in from the point that Calverley tipped on net forcing Larocque to make the save. 
 
The Tigers applied good pressure inside the last 15 seconds of the period, culminating in a Caleb Moretz (Fairbanks, AK/Flin Flon Bombers) chance from close-range that just missed.

Early in the third period, RIT took a 2-0 lead on Gonsalves' second goal of the season. Calverley fed Petrucci who found Gonsalves in front of the Air Force net. He fired a shot into the top-right corner to give the Tigers a two-goal lead.

The Falcons cut the RIT lead to 2-1 on Pulver's goal at 13:41. The Falcons worked the puck behind the Tigers net. Brady Tomlak found Pulver open on front of the RIT net. He swung a pass in and Pulver one-timed it past Drackett to cut the Tigers lead to a goal. 

With 5:34 remaining, Harper broke in on Drackett, and tried to go back-hand low. Drackett followed the puck the whole way and smothered it up.  

These two teams will play again on Friday, Oct. 25 at 9:05 p.m. from Cadet Ice Arena.