ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT graduate student forward Elijah Gonsalves totaled two goals and two assists while first-year forward Matthew Wilde scored twice to lead Tigers to a 5-2 victory over American International and the 2023-24 Atlantic Hockey Tournament Championship.
Seeded first for the tournament, RIT (27-10-2) won its fourth AHA Championship and first since winning back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016 to go along with the first title in 2010. The Tigers also qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in program history, and will play against an opponent at a site to be announced on Sunday (Mar. 24) during the NCAA selection show (ESPNU, 6:30 PM).
HOW IT HAPPENED
- AIC opened the scoring at 4:06 of the first off a RIT turnover in the Yellow Jacket zone. Austen Long intercepted a pass with his skate and sprung Jordan Biro with a long outlet pass in the neutral zone. Biro went in alone and converted the one-on-one attempt, tucking a shot under junior goaltender Tommy Scarfone's pads.
- RIT scored twice during a four-minute stretch to build a 2-1 lead at 16:06 of the first. Gonsalves fought off a defender behind the Yellow Jacket goal before first-year forward Tyler Fukakusa sent a puck around the boards to senior defenseman Dimitri Mikrogiannakis at the top of the right faceoff circle. Mikrogiannakis one-timed a shot past Nils Wallstrom at 11:56.
- Wilkie then took a shot from the left faceoff circle off a long feed from Mikrogiannakis that deflected off Wallstrom's pads. Gonsalves collected the loose puck in the right faceoff circle a roofed a wrist shot over Wallstrom's glove.
- AIC retied the game with 1:01 left in the first period after Biro redirected a shot from the point by Brian Kramer past Scarfone.
- RIT scored what proved to be the game-winning goal after AIC was whistled for high-sticking 24 seconds into the second period. Senior defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata took a wrist shot from the left point that Wallstrom saved with his right pad. However, Wilde cleaned up the loose puck that fell in front of the crease at 1:48.
- The game remained scoreless into the final minutes of the third period when AIC pulled Wallstrom. Gosnalves intercepted a pass at the right half boards and carried the puck into the neutral zone to score on a shot from center ice with 1:26 on the clock.
- Wilde closed the game with another empty-netter with 52 seconds on the clock, chasing down a puck that deflected off the post after a long attempt by Wilkie and putting home the short rebound.
GAME NOTES
- Gonsalves was named the Atlantic Hockey Tournament MVP after leading all players with 10 points on four goals and six assists the last three weekends. He joined Fukakusa (4G/4A), senior defensemen Gianfranco Cassaro (3G/2A) and Scarfone on the All-Tournament Team.
- Scarfone finished the game with 24 saves to improve to 25-8-2 this winter, including a 5-0 mark with a 1.20 goals against average and a .954 save percentage in five playoff starts. He is also one save short of Logan Drackett '21 for first place in the D1-era record books with 2,467 saves to date.
- In five AHA Tournament games this season, RIT outscored its opponents by a combined 26-6 margin.
- Wilde has 19 goals this season - extending his program record goal total by a first-year.
Wilde also scored a point in his team-leading 10th-consecutive game, while Fukakusa has now scored in six-consecutive outings. - Mikrogiannakis scored his second goal of the season, also finding the net in last Saturday's 5-2 victory over Niagara in game-two of the semifinals. He also notched three blocked shots as RIT totaled a season-high 25 blocks - including a team-high four by junior forward Tanner Andrew.
- RIT fought off five AIC power play attempts, holding the Yellow Jackets to three total shots with the extra man, while converting 1-of-2 power play chances of its own.
- Wilkie moved up to eighth on the Tigers' D1-era scoring list with 111 points on 43 goals and 68 assists to date. Gonsalves moved up to 11th with 107 (46G/61A).
