RIT captain Matt Garbowsky scored twice and added an assist in the RIT Tigers’ victory over the Army Black Knights on Saturday night.
“He just finds gaps,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson of Garbowsky. “He just works hard all the time —- he’s always in motion.”
Garbowsky opened the scoring on a power play at 7:40 of the first period when he walked in front of the net off the goal line and chipped his own rebound over Army goaltender Cole Bruns.
A few minutes later, Garbowsky replicated the goal at even strength, again walking out from the goal line and beating Bruns up high. The goal was Garbowsky’s 19th on the season, good for second-most in the nation.
Army’s lone goal came at 15:51 of the second period on a power play when Army freshman and leading scorer Tyler Pham tried to split the Tigers defense, causing a loose puck that sophomore C.J. Reuschlein chipped past RIT goaltender Mike Rotolo.
Despite giving up the power-play goal, RIT showed why its penalty kill is ranked sixth in the nation, killing off seven of eight penalties on the night.
Spending so much time killing penalties forced Wilson to use some unconventional penalty killers, including his top two scorers in Garbowsky and junior Josh Mitchell.
“It’s a luxury to have when he can play both ends of the rink,” said Wilson of Garbowsky.
The Tigers scored another power-play goal in the third period when sophomore Todd Skirving slid a cross-ice feed from sophomore Caleb Cameron past Bruns.
Wilson credited his special teams with generating momentum for his team.
“You’ve gotta get some power-play goals in order to get some momentum,” he said, adding that it was significant for a power play that has been dry as of late.
The Tigers added one more tally at 9:19, a few minutes after Skirvings’ goal, when senior Brad McGowan fired a soft wrister from just inside the blue line that managed to squeak through Bruns.
The fourth goal seemed to drain the energy of the Black Knights, who were unable to muster any momentum in the final frame despite earning two more power-play opportunities in the third period.
Both teams will continue to face off against Atlantic Hockey conference opponents, with RIT playing a home-and-home with Niagara next weekend and Army visiting Canisius college on February 13 and 14.
