ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT graduate student forward
Kobe Walker logged three goals while sophomore goaltender
Tommy Scarfone totaled 33 saves in a 4-0 shutout of visiting Bentley, Friday, in Atlantic Hockey play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- RIT got on the board with a power play goal with 2:58 left in the first period. Junior forward Cody Laskosky took a cross-ice feed from Walker into the left faceoff circle and sent it back to Walker in front of the right post for short finish under Bentley goaltender Connor Hasley's pad.
- The Tigers scored on another power play chance with 3:20 left in the second. Junior defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata shuffled a puck across the top of the Falcon zone to sophomore forward Carter Wilkie, who fired a puck to Walker in front of the crease for a chip over Halsey's blocker.
- RIT put the game out of reach with two unanswered goals in the third period, including its third power-play tally of the game. Laskosky played a puck toward the Bentley net from the right faceoff circle that deflected off two Falcons and inside the right post with 8:51 on the clock. Walker later completed his first-career hat-trick with an empty-net tally with 10.1 seconds remaining in regulation.
GAME NOTES
- RIT, which entered the game without a power-play goal in its last seven games and only two in its last 14 outings, finished 3-for-6 with the man advantage. The Tigers also killed all six Bentley power plays they faced.
- Walker is now tied for second on the squad with 11 goals, including a team-leading eight power-play tallies.
- Scarfone logged his 10th 30-plus save game of the season along with his third shutout this winter and fifth of his career. He also stopped all 29 shots he faced in the Tigers' 3-0 victory at Bentley (Jan. 6).
- Hansen-Bukata was credited with three assists, increasing his team-leading total to 26 this season.
- Laskosky tallied his 11th goal and 11th assist of the season.
- Wilkie finished with two assists and leads the team with 35 points (13 goals/22 assists). He also won a game-high 17-of-31 faceoffs.
- First-year defenseman Gustav Blom blocked a career-high four shots, while graduate-student defensemen Spencer Berry and Matt Kellenberger each knocked down three.
- Walker notched the Tigers' third hat-trick of the season, joining Laskosky (3 vs. Canisius Dec. 3) and first-year forward Tyler Mahan (3 vs. Union Oct. 15). It is only the second time the Tigers have had three players score a hat-trick in the same season during the Division I era and the first time since compiling four during the 2014-15 season.
- RIT (20-10-1, 16-6-1 AHA) hit the 20-win plateau for the sixth time in 18 seasons at the Division-I level and for the first time since ending the 2014-15 campaign with a 20-15-5 mark.
PLAYOFF UPDATE
RIT needs three points over its final three games to clinch the top seed for the Atlantic Hockey playoffs.
WHAT'S NEXT
RIT hosts Bentley on Saturday at 5:05 p.m.