ROCHESTER, N.Y. — RIT used a late empty netter to beat American International, 5-3.
However, the real story of the game was RIT may have found their goaltender for the season, while AIC may have found their goaltender for the weekend; and both are freshmen.
RIT came into the season looking for a starting goalie after Mike Rotolo graduated. They had junior Christian Short and two incoming freshmen. Short and Logan Drackett alternated starts in the first two games. Short’s start against Union was not impressive, but Drackett’s play afterwards wasn’t spectacular against Rennselaer and in the first Army game before turning around and putting in a strong performance the second night.
Yet, RIT was 58 out of 60 teams who have played a game in goals allowed coming into the AIC game.
AIC’s No. 1 goalie from last year, sophomore Zackarias Skog, did not make the trip to Rochester, and senior Alex Murray got the start. However, after letting up three goals on seven shots, he was pulled.
Drackett got the start for RIT, and despite letting in three goals, he played strong, especially when it counted, making 27 saves.
“I thought he had a solid game, particularly close to the end,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson.
Stefano Durante entered the game at 13:06 of the first period, and let just one goal in the rest of the way, stopping 22 shots.
“I was very encouraged,” said AIC coach Eric Lang. “He came into a hostile environment and had to make some saves. I thought he did a great job making some big saves. He was very calm in there.”
Durante needed to settle his team down as RIT jumped out to a 3-0 lead, butMatt Abt wristed a shot from the high slot area after Myles Powell cleanly won a face off back to Abt.
Gabe Valenzuela was never harassed skating through center ice into the zone cutting to his right at the high slot before also using a wrist shot to send the puck ricocheting off the far post and into the net.
Alden Dupuis finished off Murray when he accidentally fooled the goaltender. Dupuis had trouble handling the cross-ice pass in front causing Murray to commit early. When Dupuis finally gained control, he had an open net despite a difficult angle.
“I didn’t like the goals,” explained Lang on his decision to change goalies. “Three goals on seven shots. We can’t survive that way. We’re going to hold our goalies accountable the same way we hold our players accountable.”
With Durante holding serve in just his second appearance, Brennan Kapcheck got one back nudging in a loose puck on the line with 1:10 left in the period.
Dan Willett got the only goal past Durante early in the second, following up the rebound on his own initial shot to knock it in.
Once again, AIC scored late in the period, this time with 1.7 seconds remaining. Joel Kocur skated down the left side, deked Drackett, and put it behind the goalie’s outstretched leg to make it 4-2.
“I thought there were two critical things for us,” Wilson said. “Allowing the goals late in the periods. I thought we gave up two more goals on really sloppy line changes. Because of the timing of those things, it gave them hope, and we had our hands full right to the very end.”
Next, Jared Pike scored midway through the third, one-timing a rebound off the post.
Drackett played his strongest all game, holding onto the one goal lead for his team. Abbott Girduckis put the game away with an empty net tally at 19:07.
“We’ll see what changes we’ll have to make,” said Wilson. “I think there’s some tweaking that still needs to be done,” as Drackett is getting settled into the college game, it’s most likely his job to lose as the number one goalie for RIT this season.
Meanwhile, at least for this weekend, it will be another freshman on the other end as the two teams meet again.
“We’ll probably come back to him [Durante],” Lang admits. “At the end of the day he earned it. He came in and did a good job, so he’ll get back in there tomorrow.”
It wasn’t just freshmen goaltenders, but freshmen skaters as well who were the order of the day. Dupuis and Willett registered their first collegiate goal, while Kapcheck got his third.
Atlantic Hockey Roundup
Bentley – 3, Niagara – 3 (OT)
Jonathan Desbiens scored twice in the final five minutes, the last one with six seconds left with an extra attacker, to give Bentley the come from behind tie with Niagara. In fact, Desbiens scored all three goals for the Falcons. That’s Bentley’s third tie on the season while Niagara remains unbeaten in conference play at 3-0-1.
Holy Cross – 5, Robert Morris – 5 (OT)
Holy Cross and Robert Morris played a wild see-saw battle to an eventual tie. Robert Morris led 1-0, Holy Cross led 3-1 and 4-2, and finally Robert Morris led 5-4 before the final deadlock. Michael Laffin scored twice for Holy Cross, including the game tying goal at 17:35. Each team got two power play goals.
Mercyhurst – 7, No. 17 Penn State – 4
Penn State continues to run into trouble against Atlantic Hockey teams, dropping their second in three games. This time Mercyhurst did the honors as the Lakers never trailed. Lester Lancaster scored twice in the third period, both on the power play, to put the game away. Zach Todd also got two goals. Brandon Wildung made 50 saves for the win.
Army West Point – 3, No. 19 Air Force – 2
Everytime Army West Point scored, Air Force scored. Eventually the cycle stopped when Michael Wilson scored on the power play at 13:23 of the third period to give Army the win. Wilson also got the first goal in the first period, as the game’s four other scores were in the final period. Cole Bruns made 28 saves for the win.
