An early goal and great goaltending was enough for RIT to defeat Fredonia, 4-0, on Wednesday, as RIT netminder Tyler Euverman earned his 11th career shutout.
“We have a lot of confidence in Tyler [Euverman],” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “In the second half of the year he has done much, much better. We had a good effort against a great team.”
Right off the opening faceoff, things got rolling for the Tigers, as RIT charged in to the Fredonia zone and slid a week shot on net, forcing Blue Devil goaltender Will Hamele to freeze the puck and take a faceoff.
The Tigers took advantage of the opportunity, winning the faceoff and getting the puck back to Marc Hyman at the blue line. Hyman wristed a shot on net, that Hamele saved, but the rebound popped out into the slot where Roberto Orofiamma collected the puck and slid it in just 21 seconds into the game.
The first period was a race up and down the ice, forcing both goaltenders to come up with save after save. Hamele and Euverman were up to the task, making both the great saves and the routine ones.
Fredonia couldn’t solve Euverman, but the Tigers slid a second goal past Hamele as the first period wound down. Sam Hill took a pass from behind the Blue Devils net and one-timed it in at 18:18 to give RIT the 2-0 lead.
“I thought the difference may have been our physical-ness early in the game,” said Wilson.
The Tigers drove the stake in the Blue Devils midway through the third period with a pair of goals. Darren Doherty pushed in a rebound at 8:49, and Ian Fazzi finished off a 3-on-1 breakaway two minutes later to give RIT a 4-0 lead.
RIT dominated territorially for the first 10 minutes of the second period. Hamele once again was up to the task, stonewalling the Tiger forwards. Fredonia didn’t get its first shot on goal until 11:44 into the period, on a power play. The Tigers outshot the Devils 16-6 during the period, but neither team was able to score a goal.
