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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — RIT hosted its seventh annual Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend game at the downtown Blue Cross Arena, and, for the sixth year in a row, a sellout crowd of 10,556 attended.
As usual, orange T-shirts were handed out to the fans to create a sea of orange. However, the team RIT played, the Bowling Green Falcons, are also orange. Perhaps, it was this conundrum which caused the “Power of Orange” to not be able to pick a team, “forcing” a 2-2 overtime tie.
“I’m happy for a number of things,” RIT coach Wayne Wilson said. “Our penalty killing was awful in Clarkson and St. Lawrence; we made progress there. Our puck management got better. We got a ways to go, no question about it. We’re disappointed we didn’t win the game, but we played well.”
“I don’t think we played very well,” Bowling Green coach Chris Bergeron said. “I felt we were way too loose on the puck defending. We gave them way too much time and space on our end. That’s taking nothing away from RIT, because they deserve all the credit.”
It didn’t take long for RIT to send the large home crowd into a frenzy as Todd Skirving scored twice in 25 seconds, starting at 5:47.
After RIT just missed on a one-on-one opportunity, the puck found its way behind the net. There, RIT fought for possession as Dan Schuler threw it back in front, where Skirving banged it home.
Before the flagman finished circling the arena, Skirving was at it again, this time completing a perfectly executed two-on-one. Mark Golberg, on the right side, passed it across to Skirving, who easily redirected the puck past Chris Nell.
“The first two goals, they pushed hard on us,” Bergeron said. “We felt the first five minutes was going to be the toughest, and we got through that stretch okay.”
One minute, one second later came perhaps the most important goal of the game as Bowling Green cut the lead in half. It immediately halted RIT’s momentum and quickly quieted the crowd.
“The place was going crazy,” Bergeron said. “That’s what you expect from your seniors. It was a huge goal. It at least gave us a fighting chance, because if we had fallen behind 3-0, the roof would have came off.”
It was the result of a terrible giveaway by an RIT defender who did not see the Falcons’ player on his blind side. Mark Cooper picked up the errant pass, finding himself alone in front of the net against Mike Rotolo. Cooper toyed with the goaltender before lifting the puck over an outstretched leg.
“That one we’d like to get back,” Wilson said. “We’ve got to do a better job communicating to him that someone is on him. That was a sloppy goal.”
For a long while, it appeared that 1:26 segment would be it for scoring. Both teams had excellent chances, especially a number of times for RIT down low, but both goaltenders were standing their ground, including Rotolo, who comes from the Rochester suburb of Greece.
However, in the waning minutes, Bowling Green pressed hard, keeping the puck in the RIT zone for a long time as if the Falcons were on a power play. Eventually, Pierre-Luc Mercier centered a pass to Kevin Dufour, whose one-timer blew by Rotolo. It was Dufour’s fourth goal in the first five games.
RIT then had to kill off a late penalty just to make it to overtime. In the extra period, each team had a few solid chances, but the “Power of Orange” was not going to allow either orange team to have the advantage.
Nell wound up with 33 saves while Rotolo stopped 27.
In some ways, the Falcons are just glad to have survived the past eight days, which saw them play five times, with all but one on the road.
“Over the last two weeks, it was a tough schedule, but that’s 100 percent my fault,” Bergeron said. “But our guys got through it. We found a way. We didn’t quit. This group has a resiliency I’m very proud of. I’m happy, knowing we were down 2-1 with five minutes to go in the game.”
Bowling Green (3-1-1) finally gets to rest as it’s two weeks before their next games, a pair at Alaska-Anchorage.
RIT (0-2-1) has a home-and-home against Colgate next week, with the away game coming up first.
Once again, the Brick City game was a success.
“I think it’s a fun environment,” Bergeron said. “Not every game is 10,000 people with the student section the way it was out there.”
