ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT (6-1-0, 3-0-0 AHA) men's hockey team erased a 3-1 deficit to beat Holy Cross (1-2-2, 0-1-0 AHA) 7-4 in Atlantic Hockey action from the Gene Polisseni Center Friday evening. Freshman Andrew Rinaldi (Pierrefonds, Quebec/Wellington Dukes) scored his first career hat-trick for the Tigers.

Shots were 38-19 in favor of RIT. The Tigers went 0-for-3 with the man advantage, while Holy Cross went 2-for-4 on the power play. RIT took four penalties for eight minutes, while the Crusaders took two penalties for four minutes.
 
Rinaldi led RIT with three goals, while Will Calverley (Scarborough, Ontario/Chilliwack Chiefs) finished with two goals. Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings), Nick Bruce (Fall River, Nova Scotia/Johnstown Tomahawks) and Caleb Moretz (Fairbanks, AK/Flin Flon Bombers) each had two assists, and Alden Dupuis (Edmonton, Alberta/Bonnyville Pontiacs) finished with a goal and an assist. Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) improved to 6-1-0 in net for the Tigers, making 15 saves.

Jake Pappalardo led Holy Cross with two goals, while Alex Peterson finished with a goal and two assists. Erik Gordon took the loss in net for the Crusaders, making 31 saves.

Pappalardo gave Holy Cross a 1-0 lead on his power play goal two minutes into the game on an assist from Peterson.
 
Hamacher tied the score at 1-1 on his goal 9:12 into the first period. Shawn Cameron (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Cumberland Grads) sent a pass to Dupuis who fed Hamacher with a pass. Hamacher skated into the Holy Cross zone and beat Gordon with a move for his second goal of the season.

Pappalardo gave the Crusaders a 2-1 on his second goal of the period at 15:04 on an assist from Neil Robinson.

Connor Jean gave the Crusaders a 3-1 lead on his power play goal at the 14:50 mark of the second period from Ryan Leibold and Peterson.

Calverley cut the Holy Cross lead to 3-2 on his goal at 19:24 of the second period from Brubacher and Bruce.

Rinaldi tallied two straight goals early in the third period to give the Tigers a lead. His goal at 5:43 off an assist from Ryan Nicholson (Mississauga, Ontario/Oakville Blades) tied the score at 3-3, while his second at 9:36 of the third period gave RIT its first lead of the game.

Calverley tallied his second of the game at 14:47 of the of the third period on assists from Bruce and Darren Brady (Lake Orion, MI/New Jersey Titans) to make it 5-3, while Rinaldi completed the hat-trick at 15:28 from Moretz and Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) to give the Tigers a 6-3 lead.

Peterson made it 6-4 RIT with his goal at 15:41, while Dupuis capped off the scoring with his goal at 16:24 to make it a 7-4 final.

These two teams play again on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 5:05 p.m. from the Gene Polisseni Center.