RIT senior defender Chris McKay (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) broke a 3-3 tie with 2:39 left in regulation as the Tigers earned a 5-3 victory over visiting Air Force, Saturday, in Atlantic Hockey action.
Paired with AIC’s 4-1 victory over Army in the night’s other action, RIT (19-13-4, 15-9-4 AHA) moved up to the third seed for the Atlantic Hockey Tournament and will host a best-of-three series against an opponent to be determined on March 13-15.
Air Force got on the board in the final minute of the first period. Freshman forward Willie Reim took a feed from freshman defenseman Brandon Koch on a right-wing rush and scored between Tiger junior goalie Ian Andriano’s (Barrie, Ontario/Ottawa Jr. Senators) pads with 57.5 on the clock.
RIT took a 2-1 lead with a pair of early second-period goals. Sophomore forward Will Calverley (Scarborough, Ontario/Chilliwack Chiefs) took a feed from sophomore forward Kobe Walker (Lloydminster, Alberta/Lloydminster Bobcats) in the left face-off circle and clanged a goal off the bottom of the cross bar with 15:30 on the clock. Just 1:32 later, senior defenseman Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings) sent a long feed out of the Tiger zone to senior forward Ryan Kruper (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) down the right wing, who snapped a wrist shot into the top-left corner of the Falcon goal.
FINAL SCORE – RIT 5, @AF_HKY 3; paired with AIC's 4-1 win over Army, Tigers move up to the 3rd seed for the @Atlantic_Hockey Tournament. #GoTigers
— RIT Men's Hockey (@RITMHKY) March 1, 2020
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