ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Elijah Gonsalves and Matthew Wilde each scored a pair of goals to lead Rochester Institute of Technology to a 5-2 victory over American International in the Atlantic Hockey championship game to claim the Jack Riley Trophy.
RIT went wire to wire to capture the regular-season and playoff titles for its fourth playoff championship and first since the Tigers went back-to-back in 2015-16.
“That’s a really, really good hockey team,” said AIC coach Eric Lang. “They carried the flag from Day 1 and they’re going to be a great representative for Atlantic Hockey coming into the (NCAA) tournament.”
“This was certainly another tough game against AIC,” added RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “Our penalty killing was outstanding, and then when our power play got its opportunities, we capitalized quickly there as well.”
The Yellow Jackets got on the board early, quieting the sellout crowd of 4,300 at RIT’s Gene Polisseni Center. Jordan Biro took a stretch pass from Austen Long and scored on the breakaway, putting the puck between the legs of RIT net minder Tommy Scarfone just 4:06 into the game.
The Tigers got the next two goals to take the lead. Dimitri Mikrogiannakis’ shot from the half wall deflected off a defender’s skate to make it 1-1 at 11:56 of the first, and Gonsalves got his first of the game, putting home a rebound off the pads of AIC goalie Nils Wallstrom two minutes later.
But the Yellow Jackets tied it with 1:01 left in the first frame when Biro got his second of the contest, off a defender in front.
I'll have whatever Mikrogiannakis has been having the last two weeks. https://t.co/8cgfOIkACq pic.twitter.com/NIZ6i6yjwj
— RIT Men's Hockey (@RITMHKY) March 24, 2024
The eventual game-winner from Wilde, his first of the game, came on the power play at 1:48 of the second. The freshman was able to roof a rebound past Wallstrom to put the Tigers ahead for good.
“We’ve been really focused (on the power play) throughout this week of preparation, so it showed there,” said Gonsalves. “We worked on that play all week, just trying to outnumber them out in the front of the net, and fortunately Matty put it in.”
“Our power play, the thing that makes them so successful… is that they don’t care who scores,” said Wilson. “On that particular play, they were cheating up on Gianfranco (Cassaro) quite a bit, and we knew that they would, so Gianfranco’s got to sacrifice and be the decoy so that someone else can score, and this time it was Matty.”
RIT killed all five AIC power plays, outshooting the Yellow Jackets 3-2 with a man down. The Tigers were one for two with the man advantage, including Wilde’s game-winner.
AIC swarmed the RIT net in the third period trying to get the equalizer, especially with Wallstrom pulled in the final three minutes. But the Tigers put the game away on a pair of empty net goals from Gonsalves and Wilde.
The Yellow Jackets were a game away from their fourth league title, overcoming a rash of injuries and winning two road series to get to Rochester.
“I’m just really proud of our group with how we stepped up,” said Lang.
“We battled some pretty significant injuries along the way late in the season. Winning two series on the road and then coming to a hostile environment like this and being a shot away inside of a couple minutes to get the thing tied up.
“This thing ends up 5-2, but that was a damn good hockey game.”
Last season, RIT was the top seed but fell in the semifinals. That left unfinished business for the Tigers.
“It was a disappointing finish for us,” said Wilson. “(This championship) was something that we were trying to do since the end of last year.
“Our captains, right from the get-go, right from last year, took the team and really guided it right to this point.”
RIT will be the 15th seed in the NCAA tournament.
“The regular season (title) is really cool, but this is the one we all chase,” said RIT alternate captain Carter Wilke. “And now we’re excited for the next step in the NCAA tournament to prove what we can do larger scale.”
“The beautiful thing about our league is you have to earn your way in,” said Lang. “And I wouldn’t want to play RIT right now.”
All-Tournament Team
F – Jordan Biro, AIC
F – Tyler Fukakusa, RIT
F – Elijah Gonsalves, RIT (Most Outstanding Player)
D – Gianfranco Cassaro, RIT
D – Nico Somerville, AIC
G – Tommy Scarfone, RIT
