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STORRS, CT – The RIT men’s hockey team looked to make it two in a row on Friday after splitting at home versus Army last weekend. The Tigers came up a bit short, losing to Connecticut 2-1 at the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum. The loss drops RIT to 4-7-1 overall and 3-3-1 in the Atlantic Hockey Association.
"We didn't play a bad game," said RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson. "We just didn't play as hard as we need to play on the road."
The Huskies opened the scoring in the first period. Andrew Olson opened the scoring at 1:03 of the first on an odd-man rush by the Huskies. Corey Jendras fed Olson on the fly and he beat
Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT) with a shot over DeMichiel’s shoulder.
The Tigers answered with a goal at 4:16 by
Brennan Sarazin (Nepean, ON).
Alan Mazur (Burnaby, BC) and
Tyler Brenner (Linwood, ON) created a 2-on-1 behind the net. Mazur fed Sarazin who worked his way in front and he roofed a shot over Beau Erickson’s shoulder tying the game at 1-1.
Chris Ochoa made it 2-1 with a power play goal at 9:50 of the first on assists from Brad Cooper and Steve Bergin. Ochoa snuck a puck in between the post and DeMichiel’s pads.
Anton Kharin (Twin Lake, MI) and Alan Mazur each had hard slap shots rattle off the post early in a scoreless second period. The Tigers had three power plays early in the period but were unable to capitalize on any of them. RIT went 0-for-4 all together in the second period, out-shooting the Huskies 11-9 in the frame.
Andrew Favot (King City, ON) had a great chance to tie the score midway through the third period. He found himself in front of the net with a backhanded shot. But Erickson followed him the whole way and turned Favot’s shot aside.
With five minutes remaining the Tigers broke out 4-on-2. Cameron Burt fed Brenner in stride but Erickson turned away his shot with a kick save.
Jared DeMichiel played an outstanding game in net for RIT despite taking the loss. He made 29 stops, allowing two first-period goals.
Beau Erickson, who shut out RIT last season in Connecticut, made 24 stops on Friday in the victory.
The Tigers went 0-for-5 on the power play and have not scored and extra-man goal in their last 10 chances.
These same two teams will complete the two-game series on Saturday night in Storrs, Connecticut. Face-off is at 7:05 pm.