By Tommy Kane

Published: November 10th, 2019

Chapter 6: Hello, Old Friend (Foe)

Tiger News and Notes

Prior to this series, RIT was 9-15-11 against the Purple Eagles.

This was the first meeting since Niagara defeated RIT in the 2019 AHA Tournament.

RIT was at its best start to a season in Division I history, at 6-1-1.

The RIT Tigers (7-1-2, 4-0-2 AHA) “lost” to the Niagara Purple Eagles (0-7-1, 0-3-1 AHA), 3-2, in 3-on-3 overtime on Nov. 8, 2019. They rebounded back on Nov. 9, 2019, and defeated the Purple Eagles by a score of 4-1.

The first match took place at the Gene Polisseni Center, while the second match took place at the Dwyer Ice Arena in Lewison, NY.

History and Hat Tricks

In the prior series against Holy Cross that took place last weekend, Andrew Rinaldi (F) netted his first hat trick, doing so as a Freshman. On Nov. 1, 2019, Rinaldi’s three tallies helped the Tigers defeat the Crusaders, 7-4, on home ice.

“It’s nice to get a reward for your hard work, but it’s not about the hat trick for me to keep going,” Rinaldi emphasized. “My linemates are finding me right now, and I am finding them. I wanna keep playing that way and hopefully it gets us more wins.”

As said in the “Tiger News and Notes” section, the Tigers last saw Niagara in a conference tournament game in Buffalo, NY. The semi-final match at the HarborCenter resulted in a bitter 1-0 defeat in overtime for the Tigers. Alden Dupuis (F) spoke about revisiting the team once again.

“Obviously, last year left a bitter taste in our mouths, but we know they are a good team and we are excited to play them again,” he said. “We will be ready for the challenge this weekend.”

The Coach’s Corner

Head Coach, Wayne Wilson, talked upon the Tiger powerplay going 0-9 in the series against Holy Cross. That stat seemed to be quite a talking point, as the Tigers eventually “tied” the Crusaders in the second match of the series.

“Powerplay, regardless of the result, you are always looking at how much control are you executing, are you getting it in the zone, are you always breaking it out, and I thought we made a lot of nice plays but scored nothing,” he explained. “We are not concerned and we know it goes in waves. There are times where it’s clicking and other times when it’s not.”

Special teams stats are difficult to interpret, and it is clear that Coach Wilson and the Tigers are not too concerned at this point.

Disappointing End

Will Calverley with the Puck

The first match, the one that took place at the Gene Polisseni Center, was a rough start for the Tigers.

The Purple Eagles got on the powerplay early and scored on it. Ludwig Stendlund, who scored the infamous goal to knock the Tigers out of the 2018 AHA Tournament, was on the right end of the shot. His goal gave Niagara a 1-0 lead.

The game was physical early, with both teams delivering and finishing their checks. This kept the Tiger crowd on their feet, watching check after check.

The second period droned on, but the Tigers started to gain valuable momentum and eventually scored. Will Calverley (F) tipped in the puck past Niagara goalie, Chad Veltri.

RIT continued on its momentum through the beginning of the third period, attacking the Purple Eagle zone with a purpose. Jake Hamacher (F) got in front of the net and put the puck in it, giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead that sparked the Gene.

About two minutes later though, Eric Cooley of the Purple Eagles scored a skillful goal that went in between the legs of RIT goalie, Logan Drackett. His tally tied the game, and eventually, overtime was forced.

No one scored during the 5-on-5 overtime, so it went to 3-on-3 overtime, where Cooley scored his second goal of the game, which was a beauty, and ended the game. As an FYI, nothing after the 5-on-5 overtime counts towards the stats (as you will see below).

RIT technically tied the game in the end (after the 5-on-5 overtime, it counts as a tie), but the score was 3-2 in favor of Niagara (Niagara will get two points, and RIT will get only one). The Tigers got 26 shots on net, while the Purple Eagles got 21. RIT couldn’t score on four powerplay opportunities, but Niagara scored on one of five. In the Tiger net, Drackett saved 19 of 21 (.905). For the Purple Eagles, Veltri stopped 24 of 26 (.923) shots.

Huge Bounce-Back

RIT Bench Looks on a Play

The second game, which took place at Dwyer Arena, started off rough for the Tigers as well.

Ben Sokay scored the first goal of the game, getting the puck past Drackett in the first seconds of the period.

While down 1-0, RIT continued to garner momentum but was not able to finish on multiple chances.

The Tigers continued their momentum through the second period, and it paid dividends.

RIT crashed the Niagara net and Jake Joffe (F) was the last man to touch the puck, getting the game-tying goal late in the third.

A few minutes later, Nick Bruce (F) received a pass and fired the puck in the open side of the Niagara net, scoring his first goal of the season and giving the Tigers a 2-1 lead at the end of the second stanza.

Niagara looked like they could get one in the third period, but just as they were finding momentum, Caleb Moretz (F) scored a crucial third goal for the Tigers, giving them the lead late in the game, 3-1.

The Purple Eagles pulled their netminder with around two minutes left in the game, looking to get two goals before the end of regulation.

Calverley took advantage of the empty net and skated the puck up the ice and into the net, giving the Tigers the insurance goal.

The physical game ended, 4-1, in favor of the Tigers. The Tigers had 30 shots, while the Purple Eagles had 17. Both teams could not score on the powerplay. In the Tiger net, Drackett made some huge saves and ended up stopping 16 of 17 (.941). Veltri was only able to save 26 of 29 (.897) for Niagara.

Home-Stand Against the Pioneers

RIT will be back in action on Nov. 15, and Nov. 16, 2019. They will be playing the Sacred Heart Pioneers (4-5-1, 4-3 AHA) at the Gene Polisseni Center.

The first match will be at 7:05 PM EST, while the second match will be at 5:05 PM EST.

GO TIGERS!

Game One Stats Against Niagara

Game Two Stats Against Niagara