ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The RIT Men's Hockey team fell, 5-1, to No 3 Michigan State in front of a Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend sellout crowd of 10,556 at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester, Saturday.
The Spartans tallied the lone goal of the first period and took a 2-0 lead early in the second before first-year forward
Lucas Romeo got the Tigers on the board with a power play tally. Michigan State scored three unanswered tallies in the final period to close the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Michigan State opened the scoring 2:25 into the game with a power-play goal following a Tiger faceoff violation. Anthony Romani slid a pass to Gavin O'Connell in front of the left post, who backhanded a pass between his legs to Ryker Lee in the right faceoff circle for a shot under the cross bar.
- The Spartans took a 2-0 lead at 6:00 of the second period on a blast from the point by Chase Reid through a crowd in front of the RIT crease.
- RIT got one back on the power play at 12:52 of the second after an extra Michigan State roughing penalty. Sophomore Zach Wigle won an offensive zone faceoff back to junior Tristan Allen at the point. Allen slung a pass to sophomore Caleb Elfering in the right faceoff circle, who threaded a pass to Romeo on the crease for a short finish inside the left post.
- The Spartans third goal came shorthanded at 13:34 after Reid pushed a puck forward to Tommi Mannisto in the neutral zone, who shot down the right wing and scored on a short backhand, near post.
- Michigan State made it a 4-1 game at 9:59. Sean Barnhill stole a puck along the right boards and sent a long outlet pass through center ice to Romani at the opposite blue line. Romani skated on goal and scored with a short flip inside the near post.
- Eric Nilson closed the game with an empty-net goal with 2:23 left in regulation.
GAME NOTES
- Tiger junior goaltender Jakub Krbecek finished with 32 saves for his 20th career game with at least 30 saves.
- Romeo notched his second goal of his Tiger career
- Michigan State finished with a 37-26 advantage in shots.
- RIT killed five of six Spartan power plays
- Romeo logged the Tigers' first power-play goal of the season as RIT finished 1-for-3 with the extra man.
- RIT hosted the 19th-annual Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend game, played at the Blue Cross Arena since 2007. The Tigers are 8-7-4 all time on Brick City Weekend, losing for only the second time in the last 11 seasons.
- Ranked third in both of this week's national polls, the Spartans were the highest ranked team RIT has played in the regular season since falling 6-2 at No. 2 Boston College on Nov. 28, 2015.
WHAT'S NEXT
RIT hosts RPI for two games next Friday and Saturday (Oct. 23-24) at 7:05 p.m. both nights.
