RIT Crushes Wilfred Laurier

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Freshman Roberto Orofiamma tallied a goal and two assists in his debut as RIT dominated Wilfrid Laurier 11-0 in its exhibition opener.

Sophomore defenseman Ryan Fairbarn had a goal and three assists, and junior transfer David Bagley added a goal and two assists to lead the Tigers, who outshot the Golden Hawks 61-25.

In all, there were eight different goal scorers for RIT, with Mike Bournazakis, Mike Tarantino and Lanner Fayad each contributing a pair.

Tyler Euverman recorded 25 saves for the shutout, while Wilfrid Laurier netminder Brandon Sacco had 50.

“I thought our new players did well, ” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “It was a chance for them to ease in to our system. We know things will be tougher down the road, so it was good to get the experience.”

Bagley, a transfer from Geneseo, made his presence known quickly, setting up Bournazakis on RIT’s first goal at 5:08 of the first period, and then scoring RIT’s third at 1:52 of the second.

It was 5-0 Tigers after two periods, but penalty trouble by the Golden Hawks in the third (seven minors) allowed RIT to score six more times, including two with the man advantage.

“I thought our conditioning was good, allowing our skilled players to become a factor as the game went on,” said Wilson.

Euverman was sharp, making some difficult saves early in the game, and then robbing Pat McCoubrey with a point blank glove save late.

“Tyler looked very comfortable for the first game of the season,” Wilson said. “He made some difficult saves look easy.

“It was also impressive to see guys like Josh Faulkner blocking shots with a minute left to help Tyler get the shutout.”

RIT opens NCAA play next weekend in the Chase Rochester Cup tournament. The Tigers face Brockport on Friday in the first round, while Geneseo and Hobart square off in the other semifinal, both at RIT. The consolation and championship games are Saturday at Brockport.