Men's Hockey falls to Robert Morris, 7-3

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The RIT Men's Hockey team fell, 7-3, to visiting Robert Morris in Atlantic Hockey America action, Friday.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Robert Morris took the early lead with a pair of first-period power play goals. Tanner Klimpke played a puck from behind the Tiger net to the slot for Cameron Garvey to score on a wrist shot past Tiger junior goaltender Trent Burnham, who got caught up behind a Colonial player in the crease, at 4:47.
• Klimpke later carried a puck down the left wing and centered a pass to Walter Zacher in the slot for a one-timer over Burnham's blocker at 14:07.
• The Colonials took a 3-0 lead at 7:27 of the second off a turnover behind the Tiger net. Greg Japchen centered a puck from the left faceoff circle to Zacher in the slot, who scored under Burnham' pads.
• RIT got on the board at 15:58 of the second after sophomore forward Christian Catalano broke up a Robert Morris clearing attempt at the top of the Tiger zone. A loose puck eventually deflected back to the low slot where sophomore forward Matthew Wilde whipped a wrist shot into the top right corner of the goal.
• The teams combined for six goals in the third period, started by two Colonial goals for a 5-1 lead. Felsing stole a puck at the RIT blue line and dropped a pass on the left wing back to Klimpke, who scored in the slot on a wrist shot under Burnham's blocker at 2:07. Mitch Deelstra then took a long took a long outlet pass from Luke van Why up the middle and jammed a shot on goal that trickled through Burnham's pads at 6:05.
• RIT scored back-to-back goals to pull back within two, starting with a 5-on-3 power play goal at 8:48. First-year defenseman Tristan Allen cycled a puck low in the left faceoff circle to Catalano, who slid a short pass through the crease to sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa for a short finish that deflected over the goal line off RMU goaltender Croix Kochendorfer's skates.
• Just over five minutes later, senior defenseman Douglas Scott skated a puck down the left wing and, after taking a quick return pass from graduate student forward Nick Cafarelli at the RMU blue line, skated to the right faceoff dot to score on a wrist shot inside the right post at 13:52.
• Trent Wilson scored an emtpy-net goal with 1:26 left in regulation before Braden Rourke scored on a long outlet pass from Klimpke with 55 seconds remaining to close the night. 

GAME NOTES

• Scott scored his first career goal in a Tiger sweater while first-year defenseman Ryan Williams notched his first career point with an assist on the play. Scott is the 16th RIT player to score a goal this season, while Williams is the 21st Tiger to score a point.  
• Fukakusa extended a team-best seven-game point-scoring streak. Entering the weekend tops in Atlantic Hockey in scoring and assists, he currently leads the Tigers with 20 points and 15 assists.
• Wilde notched his seventh goal of the season – tied for the team lead with junior forward Simon Isabelle. Wilde is also tied for second on the team with 13 points, all scored over the Tigers' last 10 games.
• Catalano also has 13 points (3G/10A) this season following a two-assist night.
• RMU finished with a 34-31 shot advantage while finishing 3-for-4 on the power play and killing 5-of-6 Tiger extra-man opportunities. 

WHAT'S NEXT
RIT hosts Robert Morris on Saturday (Dec. 7) at 5:05 p.m. in its final game before a three-week holiday layoff.