Men's hockey drops regular season finale to Canisius

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's hockey team (15-15-4, 13-11-4 AHA) wrapped up the 2018-19 regular season by falling to Canisius College (11-18-5, 8-16-4 AHA) from the Gene Polisseni Center Saturday evening.

With the loss, RIT finishes the regular season fifth in the final Atlantic Hockey standings. They receive a first-round bye and will head to play No. 4 seed Sacred Heart in a best-of-three series from March 15-17.

Before the game, RIT honored seniors Erik Brown, Abbott Girduckis, Mark Logan, Christian Short and Gabe Valenzuela.

Canisius led 1-0 heading into the third period, before RIT's Erik Brown tied the game by tucking home a rebound in tight for his team-best 17th goal of the season, 4:27 into the third period.

RIT who was not shorthanded over the first 51 minutes of regulation, took two penalties 1:46 apart, giving Canisius a brief two-man advantage. The Tigers would get a key blocked shot by Darren Brady and get one player back, but with 5:47 remaining in regulation, Felix Chamberland swatted in a centering pass off the rush for the game-winning goal. RIT challenged that the play was offsides, but the call on the ice stood.

The Tigers would pull goaltender Logan Drackett for the extra attacker with 1:34 left. A loose puck came to Girduckis in the slot with 2.2 seconds left, but goaltender Matt Ladd swallowed up the point-blank chance to secure the win for Canisius.

Matt Hoover scored a first period goal for Canisius. Ladd was strong in net, stopping 33 of 34 shots in the win.

Drackett made 16 of his 30 saves in the third period. Girduckis and Ryan Kruper drew assists on Brown's third period goal.

RIT out-shot Canisius, 34-32. The Tigers were 0-for-3 on the power-play, while Canisius went 1-for-2.

"We needed to capitalize on our chances, especially in the second period," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "(Canisius) capitalized on their power-plays and we didn't take advantage of our second period power-plays, which was the difference. We will use the bye to fine-tune some things and get ready for Sacred Heart."

Canisius would open the scoring 8:32 into the game, as Hoover and Hutchison worked a perfect give-and-go, as Hoover took the return pass and from in close, scored into the open side for his 10th goal of the season.

Drackett was called upon to make a key pad save moments later on a redirection from Casey Jerry as the Canisius player was left all alone in front.

RIT would take control over the final five minutes of the period, generating several good chances, as the line of Brown, Girduckis and Kruper kept heavy pressure on the Golden Griffins, but were unable to find the back of the net.

The Tigers took control in the second period, out-shooting Canisius, 17-6 in the second period, but could not solve Ladd. RIT fired 10 shots on three power-plays, which included 1:15 of a two-man advantage later in the frame. Ladd robbed Will Calverley on a tip-in attempt right as the two-man advantage expired, then stopped Chris McKay on a point-blank chance from the slot with 1:20 left in the period. In the final 10 seconds, Ladd somehow kept a long shot by Adam Brubacher that came through traffic from going over the line, as it went off the Canisius goaltender and inches wide of the right post.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 62-25-2, including a 23-16-1 edge since the Tigers moved to Division I in 2005. RIT won the first meeting on Nov. 13, by a 2-0 score from the Polisseni Center. Calverley and Valenzuela scored for RIT, while Drackett recorded his first collegiate shutout with 25 saves.

Dates and game times for the quarterfinal series at Sacred Heart will be announced in the near future. Check www.ritathletics.com for more details as they become available.