By Tommy Kane

Published: December 1st, 2019

Chapter 9: Stinger

Tiger News and Notes

Prior to the series, RIT was 29-6-2 against the YellowJackets Including a 4 game winning streak.

The AIC YellowJackets are the defending champions of Atlantic Hockey

Jake Hamacher (F) was shaken up during the second game (Nov. 30) He returned later in that game

Nick Bruce (F) was also shaken up during the second game. He exited the game and didn’t return



The RIT Tigers (8-6-2, 5-5-2 AHA) were swept by the AIC YellowJackets (5-6, 5-3 AHA) on Nov. 29 and Nov. 30, 2019, at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, MA.

The Tigers lost the first game, 4-2, and the second game, 5-1. The ice conditions were questionable, especially in the second contest, according to RIT Hockey Radio. Nonetheless, the Tigers were out-matched.

A Little Change-up

The Tigers split the series against the Army Black Knights last weekend, losing the first game, but winning the second. Caleb Moretz (F) talked about how he felt the changes made helped the Tigers win.

“Well, I think it was just a different look from everyone,” he started. “We have been struggling a bit, and the line changes shook everything up. We definitely had more jump in our step to start the second game. It may have been because of the new changes, the fact that we lost the night before, or a combination of both. Regardless, our start set the tone for the game, got us the early lead, and allowed us to get back to playing the way we should.”

During the second game against Army, Colton Trumbla (F) was able to score his first collegiate goal. He spoke on that feeling.

“It was an unbelievable feeling, it’s a dream come true to be able to play at the colligate level and to be able to help my team win games. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and I look forward to the next one,” he said.

The Coach’s Corner

Head Coach, Wayne Wilson, was not too satisfied with losing that first match against the Black Knights and questioned his team’s compete level. He also laid out the difference between the first game and the second one.

“The biggest difference between our games versus Army was effort and compete level. That would be true of most weekends versus any team in our league. Another word I would use is sacrifice. When we are winning the face-off circle and blocking shots we are normally dialed in and get positive results,” he explained.

Coach Wilson feels that his team could learn from this and apply it to the upcoming series against the AIC YellowJackets.

Buzzed

Jake Hamacher (Left), Dan Willett (Center), and Shawn Cameron

The first game of the series had an interesting start, as the Tigers looked to come out strong. AIC, though, capitalized on some chances quick.

Joel Kocur found a quick opportunity and scooted the puck in a flukey fashion past Tiger goalie, Logan Drackett (G). Drackett lost control of the puck and Kocur just put it home.

Later in the first period, during an RIT powerplay, the YellowJackets got out on an odd-man rush and Kocur lit the lamp once again, making the score 2-0.

The Tigers did get a few opportunities throughout the first, but couldn’t get a tally.

RIT came out firing in the second period, and Kobe Walker (F) found the back of the net early. He made a maneuver and shot the puck past AIC goaltender, Zackarias Skog.

Literally 11 seconds later though, Tobias Fladeby took advantage of a Tiger mess-up and scored the third goal of the game for the YellowJackets, giving them a 3-1 lead.

Mid-way through the second period, Shawn Cameron (F) caught AIC off guard and got off on a breakaway, making a fancy backhanded goal past Skog, cutting the lead to just 1.

The Tigers started to gain some momentum but needed to kill a few penalties to round out the stanza.

Throughout most of the third period, the Tigers were killing penalty after penalty, with Drackett making huge saves to keep the team in it.

With about a minute left in the game, RIT pulled Drackett to get an extra attacker out on the ice. Hugo Reinhardt quickly got the puck and shot it into the open net, putting the icing on the cake and giving the YellowJackets a 4-2 win.

The Tigers had 23 shots, while the YellowJackets had 26. In terms of the powerplay, both teams couldn’t score. RIT had 3 chances and AIC had 6 chances. In the Tiger net, Drackett stopped 22 of 25 (.880) shots and in the YellowJacket net, Skog saved 21 of 23 (.913) shots.

Game to Forget II

The second game started off with multiple penalties for both teams, almost in a back-to-back fashion.

It wasn’t until RIT’s 3rd penalty that someone broke the ice, as Austin Albrecht scored a powerplay goal right off the faceoff. Once again, the YellowJackets got the first lead of the game.

Towards the end of the first stanza, Drackett was trying to play the puck, when he shot it at Janis Jaks. The puck then ricocheted off Jaks and went into the Tiger net, giving Jaks the goal and a 2-0 lead for AIC.

The second period was an absolutely abysmal affair. Early on in the period, Justin Cole corraled his own rebound and increased the score to a 3-0 AIC lead.

The Tiger then had to kill off three straight penalties to finish off the period. They could not muster any momentum whatsoever.

With just 32 seconds into the third period, Martin Melberg took advantage of a defensive breakdown and extended the lead to 4-0. He also scored again a minute later, making it 5-0.

Adam Brubacher (D) spoiled the shutout for the YellowJackets, as he was able to score a goal very late in the game.

AIC ended up winning, 5-1. They had 37 shots, 20 more than the Tigers did. RIT couldn’t score on the powerplay yet again, while AIC scored on 3 of their 9 opportunities. In the Tiger net, Drackett stopped 32 of 37 (.865) shots and in the YellowJacket net, Skog saved 16 of 17 (.941) shots.

Almost Christmas

To round out the first half of the season, the Tiger will host the Mercyhurst Lakers (4-8-1, 2-4-1 AHA) on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7, 2019, at the Gene Polisseni Center.

Both games will take place at 7:05 PM EST.

GO TIGERS!

Game One Stats Against AIC

Game Two Stats Against AIC