CANISIUS COLLEGE ATHLETICS
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Gabe Valenzuela and Will Calverley tallied second period goals and Logan Drackett recorded his first collegiate shutout to lead RIT to a 2-0 victory over Canisius in Atlantic Hockey Association action Tuesday at the Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester, N.Y.
Valenzuela and Calverley scored exactly three minutes early in the middle period to lead the Tigers (6-3-1, 4-2-1 AHA) to their third straight victory.
Sophomore goaltender Blake Weyrick stopped 33 of 35 shots between the pipes for the Golden Griffins (4-5-0, 3-4-0 AHA).
Following a scoreless first, RIT struck twice in the opening 4:22 of the middle frame to build a 2-0 cushion.
Valenzuela got the Tigers on the board at the 1:22 mark of the second, beating Weyrick with a wrist shot to the blocker side while the Tigers were skating with an extra attacker during a delayed penalty situation.
Calverley doubled the RIT cushion to 2-0 exactly three minutes later when he put home a wrist shot from the middle of the slot for his first collegiate tally.
That would be all the support that Drackett would need as he turned aside all 25 shots he faced for his first collegiate shutout.
Head Coach Trevor Large‘s Postgame Comments
“Blake (Weyrick) was our best player by a mile. I thought he made some huge saves to give us a chance. We were trying to get our team going. We were unable to do so tonight, but Blake Weyrick was our best player by far. You hope in those games that your goalie is great that you’re going to score a couple and make it a hockey game, but we were unable to do that tonight.
“I got to give credit to RIT. I thought their effort tonight made it really difficult for us. We talked about it in between periods that the solution was in our room. The opponent tonight had a lot to do with our struggles. From the beginning of the game to the end, they were better than we were tonight.”
Game Notes
• Tuesday’s contest served as the 76th meeting between Canisius and RIT. The Tigers extended their lead in the Division I era of the series to 23-15-1 with the victory.
• The shutout by the Tigers was their second straight against the Griffs as RIT posted a 2-0 victory over Canisius in their previous meeting on Jan. 19, 2018 at the Polisseni Center.
• RIT out-shot Canisius by a 35-25 margin for the contest, highlighted by a 17-8 edge during the first period.
• Both teams were 0-for-5 on the power play for the contest. Canisius has now killed off each of its last 24 shorthanded situations spanning their last five contests.
Up Next
• Canisius returns to action later in the week when it takes on Battle of the Bridge rival Niagara in a home-and-home series.
• The Griffs and Purple Eagles begin their two-game set Thursday with a 7:35 p.m. contest at Harborcenter before the series shifts to Dwyer Arena Saturday for the finale at 7 p.m.
• Tickets for Thursday’s game are still available. They can be purchased by visiting the tickets page on GoGriffs.com or by calling 716-888-TIXX.
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