Rochester Institute of Technology scored four goals in the second period to erase a 1-0 deficit and defeat American International 5-1 on Saturday.
RIT swept the two-game series to advance to the Atlantic Hockey semifinals on Friday.
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=’G0000MGvvEIaHxTQ’ g_name=’20110312-AIC-RIT-Phillips’ f_show_caption=’t’ f_show_slidenum=’t’ img_title=’casc’ pho_credit=’iptc’ f_link=’t’ f_bbar=’t’ fsvis=’f’ width=’500′ height=’375′ bgcolor=’#AAAAAA’ bgtrans=’t’ btype=’old’ bcolor=’#CCCCCC’ crop=’f’ trans=’xfade’ tbs=’4000′ f_ap=’t’ linkdest=’c’ f_fullscreen=’f’ f_constrain=’f’ twoup=’f’ f_topbar=’f’ f_bbarbig=” f_htmllinks=’f’ f_enable_embed_btn=’f’ f_show_watermark=’f’ f_send_to_friend_btn=’f’ f_smooth=’f’ f_mtrx=’f’ f_up=’f’ target=’_self’ wmds=’llQ6QNgpeC.p1Ucz7U.Z92hbGBaQ0PaP_5W.fbhMrKN22T4hYx1F8dQc4BG4VNal_R3uZQ–‘ ]”We played a workmanlike game,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “It’s getting tougher and tougher to get [to the finals]. The league is as tough as it’s ever been.”
RIT had four power-play opportunities in the first period but didn’t could the puck past AIC goaltender Ben Meisner, who finished with 46 saves.
“We get our jump from the power play, and I was happy with the chances we had,” said Wilson. “We weren’t too concerned being down one to nothing.”
AIC got its only goal of the game and of the weekend in the first period. The Yellow Jackets converted a short-handed chance when Neilsson Arcibal intercepted a pass, and using a teammate as a decoy, broke down the wing and put a backhand by RIT goaltender Shane Madolora.
A wild second period saw RIT outshoot AIC 23-19 and score four times. Adam Mitchell got the Tigers on the board when he took a feed from Taylor McReynolds and put the puck just inside the post at 6:11 of the period.
Sean Murphy gave the Tigers the lead under two minutes later. Cameron Burt’s shot from the high slot deflected off a defender and Murphy swatted the puck out of the air and into the net.
Andrew Favot got his 15th of the season at 11:43 and linemate Tyler Brenner scored his 26th at 19:09 on the power play to close out the second period. It was Brenner’s 55th career goal, breaking RIT’s Division I era record.
After an uneventful third period, the Tigers closed out the scoring with an empty-net, short-handed goal by Scott Knowles. Just before the goal, Favot was assessed a game disqualification for a major cross-checking penalty.
RIT outshot AIC 51-34 for the game. The Tigers improved to 18-10-4 while AIC ended its season 8-24-1.
