MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – RIT senior forward
Cody Laskosky notched three goals and an assist while junior forward
Carter Wilkie added a goal and three assists in the No. 20/20 Tigers' 7-1 Atlantic Hockey win at Robert Morris, Saturday.
Graduate student forward
Elijah Gonsalves and fifth-year defenseman
Gianfranco Cassaro each added a goal and an assist while sophomore forward
Adam Jeffery also logged a goal in the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- RIT opened the scoring with a power play goal at 9:37 of the first following a Colonial hooking penalty. Cassaro passed a puck to first-year forward Matthew Wilde in the right corner, who shuffled a pass to Laskosky in the faceoff circle for a one-timer, near-post.
- The Tigers made it a 2-0 lead with another power play goal after a RMU tripping whistle at 3:12 of the first. Wilde sent a feed from the right corner to Laskosky in the slot, who backhanded a pass to Wilkie for a one-timer from the left faceoff dot with 1:58 on the clock.
- RIT went up, 3-0, at 7:20 of the second. Sophomore forward Simon Isabelle sent a left-wing pass to Jeffery in the slot, who slid a pass to junior forward Evan Miller in the right faceoff circle. Jeffery one-timed a return feed inside the left post for his first goal of the season.
- Robert Morris got one back just over four minutes later after a long outlet pass at the end of a Tiger power play sprung a 2-on-0 rush finished by Jackson Reineke at 11:39.
- RIT scored two more times in the final four minutes of the second for a 5-1 lead. Gonsalves collected a loose puck in front of the Tiger net and skated all the way down the left wing to snipe the top-left corner at 3:48. Laskosky later tipped a loose puck off RMU goaltender Chad Veltri's pads following a long shot by senior defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata from the right point at 2:55 for the four-goal lead.
- The Tigers scored two more times in the third. Cassaro scored on a one-timer from the right faceoff circle off a feed from Hansen-Bukata during a power-play at 5:34 before Laskosky completed the hat-trick off a Gonsalves feed at 9:19.
GAME NOTES
- Wilkie moved up to 17th in D1-era program history with 95 career points with his second career four-point outing. He also had two goals and an assist in Friday night's victory.
- RIT scored a season-high seven goals, including a season-best 4-for-7 showing on the power play. The Tigers hadn't scored that many goals or power play tallies since defeating host Canisius, 10-4, last season (Dec. 3), including a 4-for-8 power play showing along with Laskosky's first career hat-trick.
- Cassaro notched his team-leading sixth power play goal of the season and is tied with Wilkie with a team-best 11 goals this winter. He moved into first place in the nation among defensemen in goals and is tied for 12th overall in power play goals.
- Hansen-Bukata finished with two assists and leads the Tigers with 16 this season.
- Laskosky equaled the career-high four-point night he had during the 6-5 win at Niagara two seasons ago (Jan. 22, 2022) when he tallied four assists.
- Graduate student goaltender Luke Lush was credited with 16 saves, including 10 in the second period, for his second win in three appearances this season as RIT out-shot Robert Morris, 43-17.
WHAT'S NEXT
RIT hosts Bentley for two Atlantic Hockey games next Friday and Saturday (Jan. 26-27) at 7:05 p.m. and 5:05 p.m., respectively.