WATERTOWN, Mass. – The difference between a win and a loss can sometimes be measured in a series of individual plays. The team found to minimize mistakes or capitalize most on an opponent, is the team that usually wins. In a league like Atlantic Hockey, where points in October can be the difference between playing at home or on the road in March, the right bounce here and the right execution there can mean everything.
Bentley and RIT played about as close of a game as possible on Friday night. Though the final score was 4-1 in favor of the visiting Tigers, the game played out mostly as a 2-1 score between the Falcons and RIT at the John A. Ryan Arena. It wasn’t until there were just over seven minutes remaining that the Tigers scored their third goal, and they added a late empty netter to pad the decisive score.
In the first period, RIT took a 2-0 lead on the strength of their specialty units. After Bentley’s Jake Ahlgren took a tripping penalty, Chase Norrish ejected the water bottle from the top of the net with his third goal of the season — coming just 30 seconds into the power play.
Towards the end of the period, they scored again using a 4-on-4 situation. Bentley’s Max French hooked RIT’s Liam Kerins, but Kerins oversold the play, drawing an embellishment call. On the ensuing faceoff, Myles Powell won it back to Abbott Girduckis, who passed to Adam Brubacher. Brubacher launched a shot past goalie Jayson Argue to give RIT a 2-0 lead in just five seconds.
Bentley rallied halfway through the second period when Dino Balsam potted his second of the season. But that was it until the third.
“I really liked our second period,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “Then the penalties started coming, and we went to a lot of 4-on-4. It’s really a totally different game, and (our players) aren’t used to playing it, so there’s some uncertainty when you’re trying to do different things. But we did have that goal (in the first).”
Though officiating whistled 14 penalties for 28 minutes, half of those came in the second half of the second period. Nearly all of the penalties matched a Tiger with a Falcon, resulting in only four power plays. Norrish’s first period goal was the only power play goal for RIT, and the penalty kill, which entered the game as one of the lowest in the nation, didn’t allow the Falcons to break through.
“It’s weird,” said Wilson. “We have a lot of upperclassmen that have done a good job for us, but against Robert Morris, we gave up the four goals in a short amount of time. So it put us back on our heels and we just tried to regroup because we think we’re a much better unit than that. We didn’t have to kill a lot (on Friday), and it was more of a 4-on-4 play than what we usually see. But we have to make sure that we win the battles on special teams.”
Though RIT won the shot total, especially with a dominant first period, the difference in the score was the odd-man situations. If the Tigers don’t score on the power play or on the 4-on-4 situation in the first period, it’s essentially looks more like a 1-1 style game. But in capitalizing on those situations, the Tigers were able to take the key step forward for two league points.
The teams, who are scheduled for four games this year, round out their series at Bentley on Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
Atlantic Hockey roundup
No. 15 Ohio State 10, Niagara 2
The Buckeyes scored their first goal just 40 seconds into the first, opening up a 4-1 lead after one and a 9-1 lead after two. Nick Schilkey tallied a hat trick in the rop in Niagara Falls.
No. 19 Penn State 4, Canisius 1
Outshooting Canisius by a 31-5 margin in the first period, the Nittany Lions built up a 2-0 lead, then led 3-1 after two by outshooting the visitors 23-6 in the second. Four different Penn State players scored as the hosts finished with 65 targets on net.
Robert Morris 2, Army West Point 1
Timmy Moore’s third goal of the season came with less than three minute left in the second period. It wound up as the game winner as the Colonials rallied from down 1-0 to take the first game of the weekend series.
AIC 5, Mercyhurst 3
The Yellow Jackets rallied from a two-goal deficit late in the second period, scoring four straight goals, including three in the third period. Of the game’s eight goals, the first seven came on the power play.
Holy Cross 3, Brown 0
Paul Berrafato made 23 saves, including 12 in the first period, as the host Crusaders recorded their first shutout of the season.
