RIT's hockey team has a serious case of NCAA hangover

Call it the NCAA hangover that won't go away.

And what makes it even worse: Rochester Institute of Technology coach Wayne Wilson can't find an Advil strong enough to dull the horrific headache.

Eight months after shocking the country by upsetting No. 1-ranked Minnesota State in the NCAA Midwest Regional, this Tigers team couldn't, on home ice, beat a two-win team from Atlantic Hockey.

Friday's 2-0 loss to Niagara University in front of 2,838 fans at the Polisseni Center was the ultimate in effortless belly-flops, a nosedive of nothingness that dropped RIT to 4-9-2 overall and 4-4-1 in Atlantic Hockey.

"Everything we did we were awful," Wilson said. "Our effort was pathetic. What's worse than pathetic?"

From puck battles to forechecks to defensive-zone coverage to power plays, the Tigers didn't execute. At home. Which is why Wilson was irate.

The Tigers are just 1-5 this season in their spiffy year-old rink, and they mustered only 24 shots on Niagara goalie Jackson Teichroeb.

"We play in this rink but it's not our rink," said Wilson, who has been RIT's coach since 1999-2000. "We just give the keys to the visitor and say, 'Close it when you're done.' "

Only goalie Mike Rotolo of Greece played well for RIT. He stopped 26 shots, including a handful of point-blank chances to prevent Niagara from building a lead in the first two periods.

He finally allowed a goal 4:59 into the third period as Dan Kolenda fired home a rebound. The score didn't change until Kolenda hit an empty net with 54.8 seconds to play.

"Simple story, we laid an egg," Rotolo said. "My job back there is to be the backbone. If I stop that one in the third period, maybe we're still playing in overtime."

The Tigers obviously need a turnaround. They play at Niagara Saturday night, then have a three-week holiday break before jumping back into the conference schedule.

Flushing the memory banks might be a good starting point.

"I think it's a mindset of, 'We did this last year, we did that last year,' " Rotolo said. "Nobody cares that we went to the NCAA tournament. Nobody cares that we beat Minnesota State."

Top-flight scoring graduated but an abundance of players have returned from that team that won the Atlantic Hockey tournament and came within one victory of the Frozen Four.

"You can't take anything away from Niagara, they came in here and punched us right in the mouth," Rotolo said. "They deserved to win."

And the Tigers?

"We have to play with so much more heart than we did tonight," Rotolo said.

KEVINO@gannett.com