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a hockey player skating toward a goaltender with a puck
Caroline Sherman
1
Bentley BEN 13-15-0, 9-11-0
2
Winner RIT RIT 17-8-1, 13-5-0
Bentley BEN
13-15-0, 9-11-0
1
Final
2
RIT RIT
17-8-1, 13-5-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 OT 1 F
Bentley BEN 0 0 1 0 1
RIT RIT 0 0 1 1 2

Game Recap: Men's Hockey |

No. 19/20 Men's Hockey comes back for 2-1 OT win over Bentley

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT graduate student forward Elijah Gonsalves scored the game-winning goal 1:15 into overtime as the No. 19/20 Tigers came back for a 2-1 victory over visiting Bentley in Atlantic Hockey action at the Gene Polisseni Center, Saturday.
 
Gonsalves also assisted senior defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata's game-tying goal with 41.6 left in regulation.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
  • Bentley broke up the scoreless tie at 4:39 of the third period following a RIT boarding minor. Ethan Leyh scored on a shot from the point off an assist by A.J. Hodges.
  • With under a minute left in regulation, the Tigers rushed a puck deep into the Bentley zone where Gonsalves sent a long pass out of the right corner to the left half boards. Fifth-year defenseman Gianfranco Cassaro centered the puck to the point where Hansen-Bukata hammered a one-timer over Falcon goaltender Nicholas Grabko's glove to knot the score, 1-1.
  • In overtime, RIT won a defensive zone faceoff to start a rush down the left boards. Cassaro fought a Bentley player off a loose puck through the neutral zone before Tiger first-year forward Tyler Fukakusa pushed a pass back to Gonsalves at the left point. Gonsalves looped back to the opposite blue line and darted through the neutral zone before cutting into the left faceoff circle and tipping a puck under a defender's stick for an attempt on goal. The defender spun to try and recover, but redirected Gonsalves' shot past Grabko into the net. 
GAME NOTES
  • RIT improved to 2-3-1 in six overtime games this season, earning its first extra-time win since a 3-2 OT win at Holy Cross (Oct. 27).
  • Junior goaltender Tommy Scarfone combined to stop 44 of the 45 shots he faced on the weekend, only allowing the one power-play goal, while improving to 15-7-1 this winter. Coupled with a 19-save shutout in Friday's 3-0 win over Bentley, he also owns a stingy .932 save percentage along with a 2.15 goals against average this season.
  • Cassaro extended his five-game point streak, totaling two goals and four assists during the stretch.
  • Hansen-Bukata scored a point in his fourth-straight game since returning from a three-game injury absence, notching his second goal of the season along with five assists the last two weekends. He leads the Tigers with 18 assists this season.  
  • Junior forward Carter Wilkie won 13-of-20 trips to the faceoff circle after winning 14-of-24 on Friday. 
WHAT'S NEXT
RIT plays an Atlantic Hockey home-and-home series with Niagara this coming week, hitting the road for a 7:05 p.m. faceoff on Thursday (Feb. 1) before returning home on Saturday (Feb. 3) to host the Purple Eagles at 5:05 p.m.