Box Score
WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The American International College men’s ice hockey team came up short Friday night, falling to RIT 5-3 in the first game of their weekend series. With the loss the Yellow Jackets fall to 3-17-2 for the season and to 3-13-2 in Atlantic Hockey play, while the win improves the Tigers to 13-9-1 overall and to 13-3-1 in the conference.
RIT opened the game with three straight goals in the first period. Sophomore Cameron Burt (Detroit, Mich.) netted two goals, one on the power-play, while classmate Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ont.) found the back of the net once.
AIC cut the Tigers lead to 3-1, when freshman
Adam Pleskach (Beausejour, Man.) buried a goal 3:30 into the second period with an assist from classmate
Chris Markiewicz (Calgary, Alb.) and sophomore
Michael Penny (Calgary, Alb.). Brenner gave RIT their three goal lead back when he tallied a goal seven minutes later with an assist from junior Tyler Mazzei (Kelowna, B.C.). Senior Steven Matic (Barnaby, B.C.) put the Tigers up 5-1 scoring a goal late in the second period with assist from senior Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ont.) and Mazzei.
The Yellow Jackets attempted to pull of the comeback as junior
Tom Mele (Bronx, N.Y.) tallied a goal on the power play at 3;07 of the third with an assist from
Nielsson Arcibal (Vista, Calif.). Pleskach scored his second goal of the night 13-minutes later, this time on the power play with assists from Markiewicz and Penny. But, RIT held on for the 5-3 victory.
Junior netminder
Dan Ramirez (Rochester, N.Y.) stopped 39 shots in the loss, while senior Jared DeMichiel (Avon, Conn.) made 23 saves in the victory.
The Yellow Jackets were outshot 44-26 on the night, but went 2-6 on the power-play, while RIT was just 1-6.
Next up, AIC finishes the weekend series with the Tigers tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. at the Olympia Ice Center.