Men's Hockey | 10/22/2010 9:15:10 PM

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TROY, NY – The RIT men's hockey team (0-3-1) fell to the Rensselaer Engineers (2-1-2), 4-1 in a non-conference contest at Houston Field House in front of 3,513 fans on Friday evening. Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) scored RIT's lone goal.

Senior goaltender Jan Ropponen (Espoo, Finland/) played well in defeat, stopping 27 shots, several of which from point-blank range.  RPI goaltender Allen York was solid in net for the Engineers, stopping 24-of-25 shots.

Brock Higgs scored a pair of goals for RPI.  Tyler Helfrich and Bryan Brutlag also scored for the Engineers.  Marty O-Grady had two assists.

RIT was 1-for-6 with the man-advantage, while RPI was 1-for-4.  The Engineers out-shot RIT, 31-25.

Both teams traded power-play goals in an evenly played, quick first period of play.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson was not thrilled with his team's effort in the contest.

"We were outworked," said Wilson.  "RPI seemed quicker, stronger, and out-competed us tonight."

Favot had three glorious chances in the period, but was snake-bit on all three. He was robbed by York from the right side on a power-play midway through the period. One the same power-play, he came streaking in with Brenner on a 2-on-1, but ripped a point blank shot just over the crossbar. He then tried to convert a chance off a rebound from Brenner in tight, but was denied by York.

The Engineers opened the scoring on the power-play with 6:42 left in the period, as a shot by Mike Bergin was blocked by the Tiger defense. The puck bounced around in front and came to O'Grady who swept a goal-mouth pass to Higgs, who slid the shot into the open side from the right corner of the goal.

Burt tied the game on a brilliant individual effort inside the zone. Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) blocked a clearing attempt that came to a Rensselaer defenseman. He tried to clear the pass, but Burt intercepted the attempt, walked around two defensemen, and slid the puck deftly between the pads of York for his first goal of the year.

RPI held a slim 9-8 edge in shots after 20 minutes of play.

The Engineers dominated the second period, scoring twice and out-shooting the Tigers 18-8. RPI beat RIT to nearly every loose, puck, was more physical, and quicker to the puck.

Higgs scored his second goal of the game, 4-on-4, 4:05 into the second, putting a wrap-around just inside the right post and a sliding Ropponen, who was a split-second shy, after attempting a poke-check as Higgs tried to go around the net.

Helfrich made it 3-1 with 4:14 left in the period, converting a feed from 2010 Hobey Baker Finalist Chase Polacek that eluded everyone past a diving Ropponen .

Ropponen made a handful of tremendous saves, including a breakway by Polacek with just under five minutes in the period. He also robbed Bryan Butlag, going side-to-side from in close, robbing a sure goal. He also stoned Alex Angers-Goulet from in close late in the period to keep it a 3-1 lead.

Brutlag made it 4-1 4:43 into the third period, slamming home a rebound off a shot from Angers-Goulet past Ropponen.

RIT out-shot RPI 9-4 in the third period, but could not solve York.  Michael Colavecchia had RIT's best chance of the period, slamming a shot off the left post midway through the period.

RIT is now 1-4-0 all-time against RPI. The two teams have only faced each other one other team at the Division I level, before tonight's game, a 10-7 Rensselaer win over the Tigers during RIT's first season at Division I, on Dec. 2, 2005.

The Tigers are right back in action on Saturday, as they continue their visit to the Capital district against No. 18 Union at 7:30 p.m.