ROCHESTER — Canisius tallied three unanswered goals to erase an early 1-0 deficit and defeat RIT, 3-1, in Atlantic Hockey Conference action Friday at the Gene Polisseni Center.
Juniors Mike Sabatini and Ryan Schmelzer and sophomore Felix Chamberland scored for the Griffs (9-10-5, 8-4-4 AHC). Senior keeper Charles Williams made 45 saves in goal for Canisius, including the final 41 shots he faced.
Gabe Valenzuela recorded the lone marker for the Tigers (10-13-1, 10-8-0 AHC). Mike Rotolo made 25 saves between the pipes for RIT.
Valenzuela opened the scoring just 3:40 into the contest, capitalizing on an odd-man break by putting home a backdoor feed from Erik Brown to give RIT a 1-0 lead.
Sabatini tied the game at 1-1 at the 3:49 mark of the second, taking a feed from junior Jeff Murray in the slot and beating Rotolo for his first goal of the season.
Schmelzer put the Griffs in front, 2-1, less than four minutes later when he collected a loose puck at the RIT blue line, drove down the right side and waited for Rotolo to make a move before tucking the puck inside the right post for his sixth goal of the campaign.
Chamberland added an insurance marker with under four minutes remaining in regulation, batting a rebound out of midair and into the net while the Griffs were on the power play to make it a 3-1 contest.
Canisius and RIT complete their home-and-home series Saturday with a 7:35 p.m. contest at KeyBank Rink in HARBORCENTER. The game will air regionally on the Time Warner Cable Sports Network.
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