At the end of the RIT-Geneseo game, one of the media in attendance leaned over and said, “12 layups and a three-pointer.” That just about sums up the 13-0 drubbing the Tigers put on the Ice Knights Tuesday.
Believe it or not, the Tigers actually got out to a slow start in this game.
“I didn’t like how we came out in the first period,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “I thought that we were fortunate to get the three goals in the first period.”
RIT’s lethargic start combined with Geneseo’s neutral-ice defense meant even play for most of the first period. Tiger captain Derek Hahn got RIT on the board 6:31 in, while on the power play. Hahn carried the puck along the Ice Knight blue line and slapped one down the slot that found the back of the net.
A broken play deep in the Geneseo zone led to RIT’s second goal at 16:03. Hahn sent the puck across the crease to Errol McDonald, who tapped the puck in to give RIT the 2-0 lead.
A fluke goal at 19:34 was RIT’s third in the period. The puck was bouncing around near the Geneseo net when it somehow bounced off the back of Geneseo goaltender Jeff Phelps and in.
“We came out in the second like I wanted to come out in the first,” said Wilson.
And the Tigers were on fire early in the period. Goals by Brandon Luckino (3:05), Josh Faulkner (4:31), and Mike Tarantino (5:20) gave RIT a quick 6-0 lead, as RIT went on to outshoot Geneseo 25-6 in the second period, and 62-28 for the game.
Hahn finished a tic-tac-toe play at 13:39 that spelled the end of Phelps’ goaltending duties for the night. Senior Kevin Koury came in and stemmed the tide for a short while, but in the end he didn’t fare any better than Phelps had.
Two RIT goals 10 seconds apart in the closing moments of the period by Shawn Wilkins and Josh Myers gave RIT a commanding 9-0 lead, and another goal just 59 seconds into the third by Lanner Fayad meant RIT had scored three in a 1:13 span.
Brian Armes tapped in a goal on the doorstep mid-period to continue the onslaught; then the RIT penalty killers got into the action as McDonald finished off a shorthanded goal at 15:09 for the 12th layup of the night.
Finally, in the closing moments of the game, Shawn Wilkins sent a line-drive slapshot from his own blue line onto the Geneseo net. He only intended to put the dump-in on net, but he caught Koury napping and the puck streaked into the upper left corner for the three-pointer.
Derek Hahn (2g, 2a), Josh Faulkner (1g, 3a), and Shawn Wilkins (1g, 3a) all chipped in four-point nights for RIT.
