Men's hockey picks up fifth straight win with 5-3 victory at Sacred Heart – RIT Athletics
MILFORD, CT – The RIT men’s hockey team (12-10-2, 12-5-1 Atlantic Hockey) extended its winning streak to five games and moved to 9-0-1 in league play on the road this season after defeating Sacred Heart (9-13-3, 8-10-2 Atlantic Hockey) by a score of 5-3 on Sunday afternoon at the Milford Ice Pavilion.
RIT scored three goals in a span of 2:35 midway through the second period to break a 1-1 tie and take a 4-1 lead. Sacred Heart would cut the RIT lead to 4-3 early in the third period and get four power-plays in the final stanza, including 1:17 of a 5-on-3 advantage. RIT’s penalty-killing unit came up huge, denying the Pioneers. Todd Skirving (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sioux Falls Stampede) would put the game away, tallying an empty-netter with 15 seconds left.
With the win, RIT set a Division I team record by extending its unbeaten streak in Atlantic Hockey play to 10 games (9-0-1). RIT has won five straight overall and eight of its last nine contests. RIT had a nine-game unbeaten streak on the road in league play during the 2008-09 season.
RIT moved into second place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 25 points, one ahead of Holy Cross and three behind leader Robert Morris. RIT has two games in hand on the Colonials.
Gabe Valenzula scored a pair of goals to lead the way offensively, while Skirving added a goal and an assist. Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) and Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) also scored for the Tigers, who have tallied 38 goals over their last nine games.
In goal, Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) stopped 29 shots and made a handful of key saves in the third period when Sacred Heart was on the power-play. He won his fifth straight start and moved to 8-2-0 in league play. He has started the last six games in goal for the Tigers, winning five.
Zach De Concilys, Zach Sabatini, and Justin Danforth scored goals for the Pioneers, Alec Butcher added two assists. In goal, Brett Magnus took the loss, stopping 19 shots.
Overall, Sacred Heart out-shot RIT, 32-24. RIT was held to just 12 shots over the final two periods, including four in the final stanza.
RIT’s penalty-killing unit was excellent, holding Sacred Heart to one power-play goal in nine attempts. RIT killed off two long 5-on-3 power-plays, one in the first period and one in the third. The Tigers were 0-for-5 with the man-advantage.
“I thought we played pretty smart defensively after Sacred Heart made it 4-3 (in the third period),” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “We were really good on the penalty kill when we needed it as we were shorthanded for what seemed like the entire third period. We seem to play better when we are behind the 8-ball with adversity.”
Both teams scored once in a pretty even first period, which saw RIT hold a 12-10 edge in shots.
Sacred Heart got on the board first, 6:08 into the game on the power-play, as De Concilys cut through the slot, took a feed from Liam Clare, and ripped a shot over the blocker of Short to the far side for his second goal of the season.
Six minutes later, RIT would tie the game, as Valenzuela took a great cross ice feed from Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73’s) and one-timed a shot past Magnus for his second goal of the weekend and eighth of the season. Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) also assisted on the goal, causing a turnover inside the Pioneers zone.
Both teams had good chances, as Short made a strong right pad save on a tricky attempt by Connor Doherty, while Magnus made a nice save on a backhander by Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) and a great pad save on a chance by Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines ) late in the period off a feed from Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs).
In the second period, RIT took advantage of some shaky Sacred Heart defense to score three times in a span of 2:35 and take a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.
RIT’s penalty-killing unit had just finished killing off a Sacred Heart power-play, when Valenzuela stripped a Pioneer defender in their zone and from in tight, roofed a shot over Magnus and just under the crossbar for his second goal of the game and ninth of the year to make it 2-1 Tigers with 8:43 left to play in the period.
Powell would make it 3-1 1:53 later with 5:50 left in the period, scoring in nearly identical fashion to Valenzuela, taking the puck away from a Sacred Heart defenseman, coming in alone and going to the backhand to slide the puck past Magnus for his 10th goal of the season.
Just 42 seconds after Powell’s goal, Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) would one-time a feed from Todd Skirving (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Sioux Falls Stampede) from the slot to make it 4-1 Tigers. Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) dogged a Sacred Heart played behind the net before taking the puck away to feed Skirving in the corner. Skirving then found Norrish alone in the slot. Norrish beat Magnus over the glove for his fourth goal of the season.
Sacred Heart would get it to 4-2 just eight seconds later on the ensuing faceoff, as Zach Sabatini attempted a dump in from the neutral zone that took a weird hop off the short glass and bounced over the pad of Short.
That completed a span in which the two teams combined for consecutive goals eight seconds apart, three goals 50 seconds apart and four tallies 2:43 apart.
Sacred Heart would cut the RIT lead to 4-3 just 1:20 into the final period, as Danforth converted a nice passing play on the rush, taking a feed from Evan Jasper and scoring into the open side. Minello also assisted on the goal.
The RIT penalty-killing unit was tremendous afterwards, killing off 1:17 of a 5-on-3 power-play moments later and two other power-plays later in the frame. Great work by Short, along with defenders Michael Holland (Cambridge, MA/Chicago Steel), Greg Amlong (O’Fallon, MO/UMass Lowell), and Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines ), along with Skirving, Girduckis, Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs), and Mark Logan (Calgary, Alberta/Brooks Bandits ) among others were key.
Skirving put the game away with 15 seconds left, corralling a loose puck in the neutral zone and backhanding a shot into the open net for his fifth goal of the season.
RIT is now 21-5-2 all-time against the Pioneers and 9-3-1 from the Milford Ice Pavilion. The Tigers have won or tied 14 of the last 15 meetings against Sacred Heart. On Friday, RIT recorded a 3-1 win over the Pioneers.
Today’s game was originally scheduled to be played yesterday, but was postponed due to the threat of Winter Storm Jonas. It was the first weather related postponement for the Tigers in the Division I era.
RIT returns home to face Holy Cross in a pair of Atlantic Hockey contests from the Gene Polisseni Center on Jan. 29-30. Both Friday and Saturday’s games get underway at 7:05 p.m.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us with a very good Holy Cross team coming in next week and going to Air Force in two weeks,” said Wilson. “There is still a lot of hockey left to be played and we are excited for the challenge.”
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