ALBANY, NY – The postseason run for the RIT men’s hockey team ended on Saturday, as the Tigers (18-15-6) fell to No. 1 Quinnipiac (30-3-7) by a score of 4-0 in the NCAA East Regional Semifinal from the Times Union Center. Quinnipiac will play UMass Lowell in the East Regional Championship Sunday night at 7:30 p.m.
RIT hung with the No. 1 team in the country throughout, with the better of the play for several stretches over the first two periods. Leading 1-0 heading into the third period, Quinnipiac put the game away with three goals.
Soren Jonzzon scored twice, while Travis St. Denis and Scott Davidson also scored. Devon Toews had three assists and saved a would be RIT goal off the goal line early in the second period.
Quinnipiac goaltender Michael Garteig was tremendous in goal, stopping all 27 shots he faced for his eighth shutout of the season and 19th of his collegiate career. He was especially strong in the second period, when RIT made a strong push.
RIT goaltender Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) was strong in goal for the Tigers, stopping 26 of 29 shots. He made 20 saves on 21 shots over the first two periods.
Quinnipiac was 1-for-3 on the power-play, while le the Tigers were 0-for-3. The Bobcats out-shot RIT, 30-27.
“I was very proud with how we played, I thought we played a good game, came in with a good game plan,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “I thought we played with pretty good energy, we had some good opportunities, but just couldn’t get a timely goal. Give credit to Quinnipiac, they played good team defense, got great goaltending, and won the special teams battle.”
Despite Quinnipiac scoring the lone goal in the first period, both teams had a handful of chances in an evenly played first 20 minutes.
Rotolo had to come up with a big save on a point-blank chance from Andrew Taverner from the slot, two minutes into the game.
RIT started to generate some good chances not long after, with Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) getting a chance gobbled up by Garteig on a power-play attempt.
Brown had an incredible chance with eight minutes left in the period, as he was sent in on a breakaway off a feed from Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers). Brown came in, had the puck roll up on him ever so slight before trying to deke Garteig on the forehand. Garteig stayed right with him, making the big pad save.
The Bobcats would get on the board with 5:05 left in the period, on the power-play, as St. Denis took a feed from Anas at the right faceoff circle and ripped a hard one timer over the glove hand of Rotolo for his 21st goal of the year.
Both teams had excellent chances in a wide open second period of play, but the game remained 1-0 Bobcats after 40 minutes of play with both teams firing nine shots on goal in the frame.
Just a few minutes into the period, RIT thought they had the game tied, as Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines ) was robbed in front by Garteig from point blank range. The rebound was behind Garteig, with RIT getting two whacks at the loose puck. With Garteig out of position, Brown the puck bounced off Brown towards the open net. Unfortunately for RIT, Toews saved the chance off the line with his glove, keeping it a 1-0 game.
Rotolo had to make his best save of the night on a breakaway attempt by Chase Priskie just past the midway point of the period. Priskie came in and tried to beat Rotolo high, but the RIT netminder made a great glove save to preserve the 1-0 score.
RIT kept coming later in the second period, but could not get the tying goal.
In the third, Quinnipiac scored three times to advance to the NCAA East Regional Championship.Davidson was left alone in front just 2:28 into the period to give the Bobcats the important two-goal cushion, as he was able to wait out Rotolo for his eighth goal of the season off a feed from Tim Clifton.
Quinnipiac would go up 3-0 with 7:42 left on a tremendous passing play. Tim Clifton fed a pass to Connor Clifton coming into the zone. Connor Clifton then made a great backhand feed across to a streaking Jonzzon, who buried the shot from in close to the open side.
Caleb Cameron (Sundridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) had a golden chance for the Tigers with five minutes left, firing a shot from in close off the crossbar, as Garteig came across.
The Bobcats would put the game away with 2:50 left, as Jonzzon scored into the empty net, as Wilson pulled Rotolo for the extra attacker with 4:28 left, as RIT was trying to get on the board.
The Tigers are 28-13 all-time in the postseason at the Division I level, including a 3-3 mark in NCAA Tournament contests. It was RIT’s second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, third in the last seven seasons and 16th overall in program history.
Quinnipiac leads the all-time series between the two schools, 4-1-0. It was the first meeting between the two schools since Jan. 4, 2007, a 3-2 win for the Tigers at Quinnipiac.
“This team just grinded, we’re not a flashy team, we just work hard,” said senior defenseman Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers), one of RIT’s three captains. “We went through a lot of highs, a lot of lows, and we got hot at the right time. I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of this university and this team.”
Tonight was the final game for seniors Kuqali, Greg Amlong (O’Fallon, MO/UMass Lowell), Andrew Miller (Chicago, IL/Chicago Steel), Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, British Columbia/Alberni Valley Bulldogs), Dan Schuler (Webster, NY/Powell River Kings), and Brad Shumway (Lafayette, CO/Chicago Steel). The group led the Tigers to two straight Atlantic Hockey Championships and two consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament.
