Out of the Box
This story first appeared on the New England Hockey Journal
website. To read Jim Connelly's original story click here.
By Jim Connelly
Many believed that RIT was in for a sophomore slump this season.
After winning the Atlantic Hockey regular-season championship in
their inaugural season in the conference, the Tigers got off to a
slow start in 2007-08.
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But recent success, which included arguably the biggest win in
program history - a 4-3 upset of Minnesota in the Dodge Holiday
Classic - has created a renewed confidence on the part of this
Tigers team.
A two-game sweep of Holy Cross on the road last weekend translated
into the Tigers catapulting into second place - two points behind
league-leader Air Force with two games in hand.
Though it's impossible to point to just one aspect of the game that
has changed for RIT in recent weeks, something that stuck out this
past weekend was the Tigers' discipline. Averaging nearly 17
minutes in penalties a game heading into last weekend's series, RIT
was whistled for just eight minors over the two-game set.
Head coach Wayne Wilson says that when you play the physical style
of hockey his team does, penalties are part of the game. Still,
it's possible to control that discipline by controlling the game.
"We've always been an attacking, physical team, and you're going to
get penalties with that," Wilson told the Worcester Telegram
& Gazette. "We had the puck a lot, so when you've got it
like that it's hard to pick up penalties."
For the Tigers their biggest weekend could be immediately in front
of them. They'll travel to Air Force this Friday and Saturday to
cap a 10-game road trip with first place in Atlantic Hockey on the
line.
NEHJ Player of the Week
Andrew Loewen, So., Canisius The netminder was impressive in
helping the Griffs take three out of four points from Bentley on
the weekend. Loewen stopped 69 of the 71 shots he faced in the
two-game series, allowing just a single goal in each game.
Looking Ahead
RIT at Air Force, Friday and Saturday, Jan. 11 and 12
For the second straight week, the top two Atlantic Hockey clubs
will meet with first place on the line. Air Force, which split last
weekend's series on the road with Sacred Heart, will look again to
widen its league lead, this time facing a red-hot RIT team which is
coming off a sweep of Holy Cross.
Around Atlantic Hockey
Air Force
If there's any doubt that the Falcons are one of the best defensive
teams in Atlantic Hockey, one only has to look to last weekend's
series split with Sacred Heart as proof. The Falcons held the
Pioneers to less than 20 shots in each game, the fifth and sixth
times they've done so this year.
AIC
In the "thank god for small miracles" category, AIC held the Robert
Morris power play off the board last Friday night - stopping all
four attempts for the Colonials. Still the Yellow Jackets
surrendered 10 goals in the game, the most since giving up an
identical 10-spot to Quinnipiac in October 2000.
Army
Owen Meyer continues to be the offensive leader of
the Black Knights. Meyer scored Army's lone goal in a 4-1 defeat to
Merrimack Sunday, his team-leading 12th goal of the
season. Army is winless in its last five.
Bentley
Junior classmates Jeff Gumaer and Dain
Prewitt now rank one and two, respectively, on Bentley's
Division 1 goal-scoring list. While Gumaer became the leader last
season, Prewitt jumped into the second spot on the list with his
team-leading ninth goal of the season on Friday.
Canisius
The Griffs have quietly put together a five-game unbeaten streak -
their longest since the 2003-04 season. Canisius is also 4-0-1 at
home this year, the first time they've begun a season unbeaten in
the team's first five games at home since the 1998-99 season. Ten
of Canisius' final fifteen games are at home this season.
UConn
The Battle of the Nutmeg State between UConn and Yale last
Wednesday was anything but a battle. Instead, UConn found itself on
the wrong side of a good ol' fashioned whooping - falling 9-1 to
its I-91 rival. It was the most goals surrendered by the Huskies
since Dec. 2005, when they fell, 9-2, to Bowling Green.
Holy Cross
The impact of the Holy Cross top line was massively felt last
weekend, but for all the wrong reasons. The first line of
Dale Reinhardt, Everett Sheen and
Brodie Sheahan were held without an even-strength
goal in back-to-back losses to RIT. The Crusaders scored just three
goals on the weekend.
Mercyhurst
Senior Ben Cottreau extended his scoring streak to
five games over the weekend, even though his team dropped both
non-league games to Michigan Tech. Cottreau has scored in 12 of his
last 13 games, a good sign for the Lakers offense if they're going
to make a late-season run.
RIT
Brennan Sarazin recorded his first two goals of
the season over the weekend and added two assists for the first
four-point weekend of his career. Sarazin entered last weekend with
just three points on the season.
Sacred Heart
The Pioneers got their first-ever win against Air Force last
weekend, 2-1, at home Friday night. They failed, though, to
complete the weekend sweep - falling, 3-1, in Saturday's rematch.
And in doing so, Sacred Heart was passed by RIT for the
second-place spot in the league standings.
