ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT junior forward Carter Wilkie totaled a career-high four points, including his first collegiate hat trick, to lead the No. 20 Tigers to a 7-3 victory over visiting Air Force in Atlantic Hockey action, Friday.
 
RIT jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead, including back-to-back short-handed Wilkie tallies, before graduate student forward Elijah Gonsalves scored 21 seconds into the second for a 4-0 edge. The Falcons responded with a pair of goals over the next five minutes, but RIT scored the next three goals to build a decisive 7-2 lead with under 11 minutes left in regulation.  
 
PLAYOFF UPDATE
RIT clinched no lower than the third seed for the Atlantic Hockey Tournament, along with a first-round bye to the quarterfinals. The Tigers will host a best-of-three series March 8-10 against an opponent to be determined.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Junior forward Tanner Andrew kicked off the Tigers' first period run, taking a centering pass from sophomore forward Tyler Mahan in the slot and jamming a shot under Falcon goaltender Guy Blessing's pads at 2:54.
• RIT was whistled for a five-minute major midway through the period, but Wilkie netted back-to-back short-handed goals for the three-goal lead. Laskosky stole a puck in the left corner and fed Wilkie for a shot from the left faceoff circle that scored, far-post, at 11:37. Wilkie later took a feed from senior defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata through the neutral zone off an Air Force turnover and chased Blessing with a goal under the crossbar at 13:21.
• Gonsalves opened the second taking a Wilkie pass and toe-dragging through the slot to beat Falcon goaltender Maiszon Balboa, before Air Force got on the board with a pair of goals by Holt Oliphant at 1:15 and Brendan Gibbons at 6:24.
• Laskosky scored on a power-play shot from the top of the slot at 14:31 to give the Tigers a 5-2 lead into the third.
• Wilkie cleaned up a rebound from close range at 5:41 of the third before first-year forward Tyler Fukakusa won an offensive zone faceoff back to first-year forward Matthew Wilde for a goal on a shot from the point through traffic at 9:06 to put the game out of reach.   

GAME NOTES

• Wilkie is only the second D1-era Tiger to score two short-handed goals in a game and first since Myles Powell in a 6-3 win at Bentley on Oct. 29, 2016. RIT also hadn't tallied shorthanded twice since Alden Dupuis and Will Calverley each found the net in an 8-4 win versus Niagara on Dec. 15, 2018.
• Wilkie also logged the Tigers' 20th D1-era hat trick as well as the second this season, joining Laskosky, who tallied three times in the 7-1 win at Robert Morris (Jan. 20).
• Wilkie moved into a tie for 13th on the D1-era scoring list with 104 points on 41 goals and 63 assists the last three seasons.
• Laskosky finished with three points on a goal and two assists, moving into a tie for 25th on the D1-era scoring list with 78 points on 31 goals and 47 assists. He leads RIT with 22 assists this season.
• Junior goaltender Tommy Scarfone totaled 25 saves to improve to 18-7-2 this winter – tied for the third-highest single-season win total in the D1-era.
• Gonsalves scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season.
• Hansen-Bukata logged a pair of assists for his second-straight season with at least 20 assists.
• Graduate-student captain Caleb Moretz became the ninth Tiger to play 150 career games.
• RIT improved to 20-9-2, logging the seventh 20-win campaign in 19 years at the Division-I level. Coupled with a 25-win season in 2022-23, the Tigers put together back-to-back 20-win seasons for only the second time in the Division-I era. RIT finished with a 23-13-2 record in 2008-09 and a 28-12-1 mark in 2009-10. 

WHAT'S NEXT
RIT hosts Air Force on Saturday (Feb. 17) at 5:05 p.m.