R.I.T. 4, Air Force 3

Courtesy of R.I.T. Sports Information

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's hockey team (3-3-0, 2-2-0 Atlantic Hockey Association) scored four first period goals and hung on for a 4-3 win over Air Force Academy (5-3-0, 3-3-0 Atlantic Hockey Association) in front of 2,011 fans at the Ritter Arena on Saturday.

RIT scored a season-best four first period goals, leading 4-2 after one period of play.

Sophomore goaltender Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, PQ) stopped 37 shots en route to picking up his third win of the season.  He stopped all 13 shots he faced in the final period.  Matt Smith (Toronto, ON) scored two goals, giving him a team-best seven on the season.  Dan Ringwald (Oakville, ON) had a goal and an assist, while Simon Lambert (Ste. Therese, PQ) dished out two assists.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson reiterated that tonight's win was big, especially to keep pace in conference play.

"You have to get points every weekend, either by a sweep or split," said Wilson, who is one win shy of 150 for his Tiger career.  "It was a weird game in that we got off to such a quick start, but then could not find the back of the net.  The penalty killing and power-play was the difference for us tonight."

RIT's penalty killing was stout once again, allowing just one goal in nine shorthanded attempts.  That goal came on a 5-on-3 for Air Force.  RIT scored on its first two power-plays and were 2-of-8 overall.

Ian Harper, who replaced an ineffective Andrew Volkening in net for Air Force 12 minutes in, made 26 saves on 27 shots for the Falcons.

The Tigers jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead just 2:22 in, as freshman Mike Janda (Winfield, IL) redirected a pass from fellow freshman Tyler Mazzei (Kelowna, BC) on a 2-on-1 break between the pads of Air Force net-minder Andrew Volkening.  The goal was the first of Janda's collegiate career.

Just 1:22 later, sophomore defenseman Ringwald took a shot from the blue-line that redirected off a Falcons defenseman and in to make the score 2-0 RIT.  Lambert and Al Mazur (Burnaby, BC) assisted on the power-play goal.

Smith scored his first of two opening period goals at the 12:12 mark, as he lifted a shot from an odd angle over Volkening's shoulder to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead and chase the Air Force starting goaltender from the game.

Josh Frider cut the RIT lead to 3-1 1:26 later, as his shot on the rush caromed off a Tiger back checker and past Menard.

Smith scored his seventh goal of the year at the 14:48 mark, putting RIT back up 4-1.  He received a pass from Ringwald as the Tigers cycled the puck down low.  Smith's wrist shot eluded new Falcons goaltender Ian Harper.

2007 Hobey Baker Award finalist Eric Ehn cut the RIT lead to 4-2 with 1:18 left in the period, as he slid a low shot past Menard, while the Falcons were enjoying a 5-on-3 man-advantage.

Ehn finished with a goal and two assists.

Air Force out-shot RIT 11-9 over the first 20 minutes.

Menard came up with a handful of big saves in the middle stanza.  Unfortunately for RIT, Air Force potted the only goal of the period to cut the Tiger lead to 4-3.

Ehn won a face-off back to defenseman Michael Mayra while both teams were playing 4-on-4 early in the frame.  Mayra was able to walk into the slot untouched a rip a low shot past Menard just inside the left post for his third goal of the season.

Air Force held a 27-18 advantage in shots after two periods.

RIT now leads the all-time series between the two clubs 7-6-2 and is 4-4-2 against the Falcons since RIT moved to Division I in 2005.

Last season, RIT went 2-1-1 against Air Force, winning a pair of games at Ritter Arena in February.  The Falcons handed RIT its only shutout last season, winning 3-0 in Colorado Springs in November.  The two teams skated to a 4-4 tie the following night.  Air Force out-scored RIT 12-11 in the four match-ups a year ago.

The Falcons defeated RIT 2-1 in overtime on Friday night.