By Tommy Kane

Published: November 3rd, 2019

Chapter 5: A First Hat Trick

Tiger News and Notes:

This is the first series at the Gene Polisseni Center in the 2019-2020 season.

Prior to the series, RIT was 24-11-7 against Holy Cross.

RIT is riding a three-game winning streak and faced a monstrous 80 shots last week at Air Force.

The RIT Tigers (6-1-1, 3-1-1 AHA) beat the Holy Cross Crusaders (1-2-3, 0-1-1 AHA), 7-4, on Nov. 1, 2019, but lost to them in a shootout, 4-3, on Nov. 2, 2019 (shootout counts as a tie).

Both games took place at the Gene Polisseni Center, as it was the first home series for the Tigers.

Facing Shots

Against the Air Force Falcons last weekend, the Tigers faced 80 total shots, and Goalie, Logan Drackett, stopped all but one. Was there a special trick up his sleeve for saving so many shots and getting a save percentage of .988 during the series?

“No, I have been playing with a lot of confidence,” Drackett said when asked. “I really like our team this year and I think our defense is our strong-point. We are playing well as a team.”

Bryson Traptow (F), had been a critical player so far on the team, totaling three points so far, and he talked about what Coach Wilson had been stressing about after last week’s series.

“It’s about sticking with the gameplan. Obviously, we got outshot on paper, but we battled hard. It’s always tough going into Air Force. We need to compete, battle, and never give up on the game cause you will never know what will happen,” he explained. We got outshot, but we still found a way to get a sweep in Air Force.”

The Coach’s Corner

Last week was a tough contest for the Tigers, regardless of what the records were, and Head Coach, Wayne Wilson, knew it was. He had already started to look ahead to this home series against Holy Cross but also reflected on the last series.

“We just looked tired and lethargic,” he started. “I thought our second game [against Air Force] was much better [than the first game]. I don’t think the shots were indicative of our play. We want to keep improving in all areas of our game. We are working on our six-on-five, our four-on-four play, defensemen handling rushes, standing up at the blue line. We want to be prepared for these aspects of the game.

Coach also talked about how he was confident in Drackett handling the puck, so he wanted opponents to dump the puck down to their zone. He also was pleased to come out with the sweep and six points.

Huge Comeback Win with a Hatty

RIT Celebrating a Goal in the Win Against Holy Cross

The opening game at the Gene Polisseni Center was electric, as students received free tickets.

The Tigers started the match off on the wrong foot, and Jake Pappalardo scored within the first two minutes for the Crusaders. This came on a powerplay.

RIT responded when Jake Hamacher (F) was able to get on a breakaway and fooled the Crusaders netminder, Erik Gordon. He tied the game at one apiece, midway through the first period.

Pappalardo wasn’t finished though. He scored again, this time he found the puck right in the slot after it deflected over Drackett. It was an unfortunate bounce for the Tigers and Holy Cross took the opportunity.

At the start of the second period, the Tigers gain a substantial amount of momentum and fired off multiple shots, only to be stopped. They looked like they were going to find something when Conner Jean cut the momentum like paper and scored on another powerplay goal for the Crusaders.

Down 3-1 late in the second period, the Tigers needed to find a light. Will Calverley (F), in the dying seconds, found the puck and shoved it home backdoor to give RIT another goal and a huge momentum swing heading into the third period, which proved vital.

The third period involved five Tiger goals in fairly quick succession and one Crusader goal. Andrew Rinaldi (F) scored his first hat trick, Calverley scored another goal, and Alden Dupuis (F) netted one for the Tigers as an insurance goal.

The lone Holy Cross goal was scored by Alex Peterson.

When it was all said and done, the Tiger crowd was roaring as the scoreboard said 7-4 in favor of the home team. It was a huge comeback completed. The Tigers had 38 shots, while the Crusaders only got off 19. RIT could not capitalize on their powerplay, but Holy Cross scored two goals on four opportunities. In the Tiger net, Drackett saved 15 of 19 (.789) and Gordon stopped 31 of 38 (.816) shots for the Crusaders.

Crusaders Win in Nail-biting Shootout

Logan Drackett Tracking Down the Puck

The Tigers in the second game of the series started the game by continuing their dominant play.

Jake Joffe (F) got the party started when he poked in the puck past Crusaders keeper, Matt Radomsky. The Tigers took the 1-0 lead midway through the first stanza.

About two minutes later, Calverley scored his third goal of the weekend and gave RIT a 2-0 lead. The Gene Polisseni Center was rocking after his strike.

While it looked like the Tigers were going to run away with the game, the Crusaders got a powerplay late in the first period and Dalton Skelly scored on it.

That goal and the physical play totally turned momentum and Holy Cross scored the next two goals after the Skelly one. Will Brophy and Jean both scored in the third period, taking the lead, 3-2.

RIT pulled Drackett with around two minutes to go and put on the extra attacker, desperate to bring the game to overtime. Shawn Cameron (F) answered prayers and scored the tying goal with a minute and six seconds left in regulation.

The game went to 5-on-5 overtime, and then 3-on-3 overtime, but nobody broke the ice. The first-ever shootout in Atlantic Hockey was then played, and Papallardo of the Crusaders got the winner past Drackett in dramatic fashion.

Despite losing in a shootout, 4-3, the Tigers picked up a point in the Atlantic Hockey standings, as it technically counted as a tie (After 5-on-5 overtime, if the game is still tied, it must be counted as an official tie. 3-on-3 overtime and shootout may then be played for additional conference points. So, Holy Cross picked up an additional point (two total points for the game)). The Tigers had 28 shots, while the Crusaders had 33. RIT couldn’t score on any powerplay opportunity, but Holy Cross scored on one. In the Tiger net, Drackett saved 30 of 33 (.909) shots and Radomsky stopped 25 of 28 (.893) shots for the Crusaders.

Home and Home Series

The Tigers will play the Niagara University Purple Eagles (0-6, 0-2 AHA) on Nov. 8, 2019, at the Gene Polisseni Center, and Nov. 9, 2019, at Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, NY. Both games will be at 7:05 PM EST.

This will be the first meeting since Niagara knocked RIT out of the 2019 AHA Tournament this past March.

GO TIGERS!

Game One Stats Against Holy Cross

Game Two Stats Against Holy Cross