Canisius sophomore Alex Jaeckle scored the game’s only goal with less than a minute left to play in the first period and senior netminder Charles Williams made it stick by stopping 41 shots as the Golden Griffins defeated long-time rival RIT 1-0 in KeyBank Rink at HARBORCENTER Friday night.
The win moves Canisius to 3-5-1 overall and 2-0-1 in Atlantic Hockey action, while the Tigers fell to 3-4-1 overall and 3-2-0 in league play.
Canisius scored the game’s lone goal at the 19:07 mark of the first period after sophomore Felix Chamberland snapped a shot that got knocked down by an RIT defender. The puck bounced into the slot and onto the stick of Jaeckle, who fired on net and beat RIT goalie Mike Rotolo for his first goal of the season. Chamberland and freshman forward Matt Hoover were credited with assists on the Griffs’ goal.
Williams earned his first shutout in Canisius Blue and Gold after he recorded 41 saves, with 21 of those stops coming in the game’s third period. RIT outshot Canisius 21-5 in the final period, but the senior from Canton, Michagan wasn’t really tested until late in the game as RIT pulled Rotolo in favor of an extra attacker. RIT, which entered the game ranked in the nation’s top-15 in scoring with just under four goals per game, ended up being shutout in a regular-season game for the first time since falling at Air Force by the score of 4-0 on Feb. 6, 2016.
Williams moved to 3-2-1 on the year with the win, while Rotolo fell to 3-4-1 with the loss. Neither team scored on the power play on Friday, as the Griffs went 0-for-3, while the Tigers were 0-for-4 on the man-advantage.
Canisius and RIT will close out their weekend home-and-home series Saturday when the two teams meet in RIT’s Gene Polisseni Center in Rochester. Faceoff is set for 7:05 p.m., and the game will be televised live on Time Warner Cable SportsNet.
from GoGriffs.com via IFTTT