March 27, 2010
#12 MEN’S HOCKEY FALLS TO #20 RIT, 6-2, IN NCAA EAST REGIONAL FINALS
ALBANY, N.Y. – The 20th-ranked and
fourth-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) scored three
goals 1:34 apart in the second period to break a 1-1 deadlock and
lift the Tigers to a 6-2 win over the 12th-ranked
University of New Hampshire men’s hockey team on Saturday
night at the 2010 NCAA East Regional finals held at Albany’s
Times Union Center. The Tigers advance to their first Frozen Four
in program history.
UNH, which qualified for the NCAA
tournament for the ninth-straight season, finishes 18-14-7 overall.
RIT, which has now won 12-straight games, improves to 28-11-1
overall. New Hampshire's Bobby Butler (Marlboro,
Mass.) was named to the All-Regional Team for his efforts over the
weekend.
The Tigers potted three goals in a
span of 1:34 to break the 1-1 deadlock and take a 4-1 lead into the
second intermission. RIT struck with a pair of goals just 13
seconds apart at 13:23 and 13:26. The first goal was a transition
tally by Tyler Brenner with assists from Andrew Favot and Chris
Saracino. The second came off a turnover in the neutral zone that
setup Brent Alexin for an unassisted goal. The Tigers tallied again
just over a minute later as Stevan Matic scored on the rebound of a
Sean Murphy shot at 14:57 of the period. Cameron Burt was also
credited with an assist on the play. Overall, the Tigers held a
commanding 18-6 shot advantage in the frame.
Leading 4-1, the Tigers scored to
make it 5-1 as Brenner scored at 10:01 of the third period. UNH
scored to make it 5-2 as Blake Kessel (Verona,
Wis.) scored on the rebound of a Brett Kostolansky
(Denver, Colo.) shot, who was credited with an assist on the goal
at 17:31 of the third. RIT’s Tyler Mazzei would add an
empty-netter at 18:06 to conclude scoring at 6-2.
Neither team could do much
offensively early, but it was RIT breaking the deadlock with a shot
from the top of the offensive zone from defenseman Chris Haltigin,
who scored at 14:10 of the first with assists from Tyler Mazzei.
The Wildcats potted the equalizer at 19:01 of the period as
Phil DeSimone (East Amherst, N.Y.) redirected a
Kostolansky shot from the left point. Damon
Kipp’s (Salmon Arm, British Columbia) fired a one
timer from the left point that caromed off the boards to
Kostolansky, he was credited with a secondary assist. New Hampshire
held a slim 8-7 shot advantage.
UNH netminder Brian Foster stopped
27 shots, but falls to 17-14-7, while RIT’s Jared DeMichiel
turned away 24 shots and improves to 27-9-1 overall.
The Tigers held a 33-26 shot
advantage. RIT was 0-6 on the power play, while UNH was 0-3 on its
extra-skater opportunities/.
UNH captured its eighth Hockey East
regular season title and third in the last four years and qualified
for the tournament for the ninth-straight season. The game was the
final one for seniors Butler, Foster, Peter
LeBlanc (Hamilton, Ontario) and Nick
Krates (Palos Park, Ill.).
