Men's Hockey | 3/9/2014 8:48:00 PM

Box Score

WORCESTER, MA – The RIT men's hockey team (12-20-5) had its season come to an end in heartbreaking fashion on Sunday evening, falling to Holy Cross (14-20-3), 3-2 in overtime of game three of the Atlantic Hockey Association First Round Playoff series.
 
Despite RIT holding a 2-0 lead early in the second period, the Crusaders battled back to force overtime.
 
In overtime it took just 38 seconds for Holy Cross to punch its ticket to the AHA Quarterfinal round after an RIT pass to the point took a bad bounce off the official's skate and led to a 3-on-2 chance for Holy Cross. They made the most of it as Mike Barrett buried a backhanded shot from the right side just outside of the crease to give them the 3-2 win.
 
Eliot Raibl (Vancouver, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires) opened the scoring with goal right in the slot off a terrific feed from Andrew Miller (Chicago, IL/Chicago Steel) who fetched the puck off the boards from Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles). It was Raibl's second goal of the season. In the second period, RIT would add another goal courtesy of Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) who got a pass from Dustin Fostvelt (Edmonton, Alberta/Spruce Grove Saints ) and rammed it home from just inside the left circle for his seventh tally of the year.
 
For Holy Cross Adam Schmidt and Nathaniel Domagala both scored second period goals, which at the time tied things up with RIT at 2-2 and later led to overtime.
 
In net for the Crusaders Matt Ginn made 31 saves, many of which kept the Crusaders in the game after they had tied things up with RIT.
 
RIT goaltender Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) made 39 saves in the final game of his freshman campaign. He finished the season with a 9-9-3 overall record, emerging as the No. 1 goaltender as the season progressed.
 
Final shots were 42-33 for the Crusaders. Holy Cross was 0-for-4 with the man-advantage, while RIT was 0-for-2. RIT's penalty-killing unit allowed just six goals over its last 17 games, killing off 71-of-77 opponents power-plays to end the season.
 
"There's not much to say after this one," said RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson. "The puck kicked off the ref there and really sprung the three on two for them, it was just unfortunate. I thought we played really well 5-on-5 throughout tonight, it was two really even teams going at it and it showed with two overtime games this weekend."
 
RIT came ready to play after a 5-1 loss to Holy Cross on Saturday night, coming out with a full head of steam right from the outset.
 
That quick pressure started to create some opportunity for the Tigers and with 16:52 to go it looked like they had cashed in when Miller brought the puck up the left boards and took a shot from the circle in between the legs of Ginn. The puck squirted through and nearly slid across the goal line but a Holy Cross defensemen pulled it back with his stick to keep things scoreless.
 
Minutes later Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies) nearly broke through himself when he found a Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) rebound coming up the left side of the slot, but mishandled the puck with the left side of the net wide open for the taking.
 
Soon enough RIT would break through as Raibl got a shot off from the slot that found netting behind Ginn and made it 1-0.
 
In the closing seconds of the first, RIT dodged a bullet with Holy Cross on the power play after Karl Beckman fired a shot from the point that soured underneath the legs of Rotolo and into the net but didn't cross the goal line before the buzzer sounded.

Just three minutes into the second period, Smith would add his seventh goal and the Tigers were in control with a 2-0 lead.
 
Several minutes later though, Holy Cross would answer off a Schmidt goal from the right side of the slot, to steal the momentum back their way. The Crusaders broke through again this time from Domagala with over 11 minutes remaining in the period tying things up at 2-2.
 
Late in the second RIT would take consecutive penalties to give Holy Cross a dangerous 5-on-3 chance for 1:08. The Tigers defense held strong, killing off both penalties and a minute later, drew a penalty of their own to go on their first power play of the game.
 
In the third period, the Tigers got their rhythm back and started to hold the puck in the Holy Cross zone for long periods of time, creating a number of great chances at a goal.
 
RIT caught Ginn out of the net after trying to coral the puck and Nolan Descoteaux (Dallas, TX/South Shore Kings) got a shot off toward the open net but it was blocked up and out of play by Sean Gustin. The third period came to an end with the teams still in a 2-2 deadlock.
 
"We were glad to have [Nolan] Descotaeux and [Alexander] Kuqali back from the flu tonight and they weren't feeling their best but they toughed it out for us," said Wilson. "Unfortunately we just didn't have it in us. We have a lot to look forward to for the future including opening up the new rink so we'll regroup and continue pushing forward."

RIT is now 23-10-4 all-time against Holy Cross and 19-5-4 at the Division I level. The Tigers defeated the Crusaders in both the 2008 and 2009 AHA Quarterfinals series, winning in two games in 2008 and three games in 2009. The Tigers finished 1-3-1 against Holy Cross this season.
 
RIT is 17-10 all-time in AHA postseason contests since becoming eligible for the league's postseason in 2007-08 and 1-4 on the road. Their first playoff road win came on Friday night when the Tigers defeated the Crusaders 3-2 in overtime on a breakaway goal from Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles).
 
The Tigers are now 4-2 during the division I era in three-game playoff series elimination games with two of those wins coming at home against Holy Cross in the 2008-09 season. Sunday's game marks just the second time RIT has ever lost in the first round of the AHA Tournament.

Tonight marked the final contest for seniors Nolan Descoteaux (Dallas, TX/South Shore Kings), Colavecchia, Eliot Raibl (Vancouver, British Columbia/Quesnel Millionaires), Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars), Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers), and Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks). This sextet led RIT to a 66-62-24 mark in four seasons, with two appearances in the AHA Championship game.
 
Colavecchia finished his collegiate career with 110 points (44-66-110), fifth most by a Tiger at the Division I level, while Noyes finished 10th overall at RIT's Division I level with 92 points.