By Tommy Kane

Published: October 13th, 2019

Chapter 2: Breaking the Ice

Tiger News and Notes

Prior to the match, RIT was 0-4-1 against the Bowling Green Falcons.

RIT went on to face Ohio State for the first time in program history.

Regan Seiferling (D) was out due to recovery from offseason surgery.

Kobe Walker (F) was out due to a lower-body injury.

Head Coach, Wayne Wilson, played for Bowling Green from 1980-1984 and won a National Championship there in 1984. He also was an assistant there from 1984-1999.

This was the first time the Tigers have participated in the Ice Breaker Tournament.

The RIT Tigers (2-1) stunned the #17 Bowling Green Falcons (1-2) in the Ice Breaker Tournament, 3-2, in overtime on Oct. 11, 2019. That jubilant win gave the Tigers an opportunity to play the #12 Ohio State Buckeyes (2-0) in the Championship, where the buckeyes defeated them, 3-1.

Importance Against Ranked Opponents

The Tigers had a great opportunity to try and get results against ranked opponents in the NCAA Division I. Alternate Captain, Chris McKay (D), spoke on the importance of the Ice Breaker Tournament.

“It’s really important cause it gives us an idea of where we are against those better teams and it shows us what we need to work on. It would be great to be ranked ourselves, so beating them would be huge,” he said.

Another Captain, Darren Brady (D), talked about the overall goal the Tigers had going into the Ice Breaker Tournament.

“We just wanna stick to our gameplan,” he started to explain. “We want to come out and we want to be excited while looking to play our game to the best we can. We would like to win the first game [against Bowling Green], but nonetheless, the first game will be the highlight.”

The Coach’s Corner

Head Coach, Wayne Wilson, was asked a different question. He was asked about what it was like to play against his alma mater (see the “Tiger News and Notes” section for more details).

“It was really weird the first time I went back,” Wilson said. “It was in Bowling Green as well, but it was good seeing people that I knew and worked with. Now, it’s just different because once the game starts you are just so focused and dialed in on your own team. It really is just your team against there’s.”

He went on to say the first time was the hardest, but after that, it just became another game. Overall, he is ready and focused for this early season tournament.

Comeback Win

Caleb Moretz after he scored the game-winner

The Friday match against the Falcons started an hour late due to the prior game going into overtime.

Despite this, Bowling Green came out fast early, getting a few powerplays early in the first period. They also had a goal that was reviewed and disallowed due to a high stick infraction.

RIT didn’t let the Falcons control the entire pace, as they had a few opportunities for themselves, but eventually Bowling Green scored. Evan Dougherty had a back-hand goal that just got past RIT goalie, Logan Drackett, to give them a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

The second period started off slow, but RIT continued to make some plays and get chances up ice, looking to get their first goal of the game.

The Falcons stomped on their chances and scored a second goal. Casey Linkenheld increased the lead to 2-0.

With only 34 seconds elapsed after the Linkenheld tally, Brody Valette (D) fired a wrist shot and got the Tigers on the board for the first time, cutting the Falcon lead to one and restoring the great momentum that was gained throughout the period.

It looked like Bowling Green was going to control the rest of the game, but Andrew Rinaldi (F) and the Tigers had something to say about that. Rinaldi scored his first collegiate goal in the last five minutes of the third period to tie the game at two apiece.

The game stayed tied, 2-2, and headed into overtime. It wasn’t long though, as Caleb Moretz (F) scored his first colligate goal and won the game for the Tigers, 3-2. Moretz got loose and was able to get the puck past the Falcon’s keeper, Eric Dop.

With that, the Tigers advance to the Ice Breaker Tournament Championship to face the Ohio State Buckeyes. RIT had a total of 22 shots while Bowling Green had 32 shots. Both teams were unable to score on the powerplay. In the Tiger net, Drackett saved 30 of 32 (.938) shots, and Dopp stopped 19 of 22 (.864) shots for the Falcons.

Valiant Effort

Logan Drackett (left) and Adam Brubacher (far right)

Saturday’s championship game started off with both teams getting chances, but it wasn’t until the last minutes of the first period when someone struck gold. Alden Dupuis (F) of the Tigers took advantage of a powerplay opportunity and put it home, giving the Tigers a 1-0 lead after the first period.

RIT had to kill a penalty early in the second period, but they took another penalty that ended badly as Ronnie Hein of Ohio State was able to score on a bad bounce, which gave the Buckeyes their first goal of the game and continuous momentum. The game was tied 1-1 midway in the second stanza.

Late in the second period, Valette got a major penalty for hitting from behind. The Tigers were forced to kill the penalty in the last minutes of the second and into the beginning of the third.

At the last second of the major penalty, the Buckeyes cashed in. Hein scored another goal, tucking it past Drackett and giving his team a 2-1 lead early in the third period.

The Tigers tried to find a few chances and did, but they were unable to score a tying goal.

Finally, late in the third period, Tate Singleton put the game away with an insurance goal for Ohio State.

The Buckeyes won, 3-1, and also won the 2019 Ice Breaker Tournament.

RIT had 25 shots, while Ohio State had 34 shots. In terms of the powerplay, RIT scored on one of three chances. Ohio State scored on two of a whopping seven chances. In the Tiger net, Drackett saved 31 of 34 (.912) shots and Tommy Nappier stopped 24 of 25 (.960) for the Buckeyes.

2019 Brick City Homecoming

The RIT Tigers will be back in action on Oct. 19, 2019, at the Blue Cross Arena, as a part of the 2019 Brick City Homecoming. The Tigers will face the Merrimack Warriors at 7 PM that night. It should be a thrilling, sold-out game in downtown Rochester!

GO TIGERS!

Stats Against Bowling Green

Stats Against Ohio State