ROCHESTER, N.Y. — RIT’s junior goaltender, Christian Short, has been … well … short on playing time recently. He got the start, only his third this season, against Holy Cross, leading the Tigers to a 5-3 win. This gave the home team the split in the weekend series.
So, why start him tonight?
“I thought Logan [Drackett] was a little sloppy last night,” RIT coach Wayne Wilson explains. “I thought he could have been a little sharper. I thought Christian really battled hard at UConn, so we decided to give him a go. I thought Christian deserved a shot.”
Short came into his freshman year as the backup to junior Mike Rotolo. However, when Rotolo went down with an injury, Short was called upon to right the ship.
“I thought his freshman year when Mike got hurt he really held the fort down and did a really good job,” Wilson said.
In Atlantic Hockey play that year, Rotolo wound up playing in 16 games garnering a 8-5-3 record, .890 save percentage and 2.75 goal against average.
However, in his sophomore year, when Rotolo struggled, Short was unable to be the reliable backup, as he, too, struggled. He ended up playing in only three games all season with a horrid .763 save pct. and 6.02 GAA.
Wilson continues, “Without getting into the history and all, we’ve made him battle. We haven’t given him anything.”
“It’s been awhile,” Short laughed. “Fighting through last year. This year I came in feeling really good about my game. Worked hard all summer. It’s definitely rewarding. I felt good at UConn. We just didn’t get the win. It’s relieving. It’s a big monkey off my back.”
“We played Christian before a couple of years ago,” Holy Cross coach David Berard said. “The difference between him and Drackett, is he’s bigger, six foot four.”
On the flip side, Holy Cross goalie, Paul Berrafato, who played splendid on Friday night, probably wishes he had the last two goals back.
Berard said, “Last night he played unbelievable. He won us the hockey game. Tonight was a game where we needed to win the game for him. Unfortunately, we fell a little bit short.”
“I thought their goalie was struggling tonight,” Wilson said. “I thought he was fighting the puck a little bit. We wanted to get some pucks on net, and it worked out. He was so sharp last night.”
Holy Cross led 3-2 late in the second period, thanks to a Ryan Ferrill shot off the post, a Danny Lopez power play goal, and a breakaway tally by Tommy Muratore. Then, Abbott Girduckis tied it at 17:49.
“The guy who was driving, it hit his stick inadvertently,” Berard explained. “It changed directions right in front of Paul.”
The winning goal came at 2:33 of the third by Mark Logan, his first of the season. It was another deflection that eluded Berrafato when the puck slid underneath his glove and through the five-hole as he tried to smother it.
“I think Paul would probably like to have that back,” Berard said.
In the waning minutes of the game, with Holy Cross on the power play and their goalie pulled for a six-on-four advantage, Short had to come up big. He did, making a diving save on the line by the post.
“I knew there was a guy there, so I was trying to get anything I could over there,” Short said. “It was pretty close. Probably too close. I got my paddle on it.”
Berard said, “He made some really big saves in the third and throughout the game that kept them in it when we had the lead and obviously sealed the win there at the end.”
Erik Brown clinched the win with an empty net goal with six seconds left. The first two Tiger goals were scored by Myles Powell as the rebound deflected in off a defenseman’s leg and Adam Brubacher on a left point shot that sailed over the goalie’s glove.
After losing to Union early in the season, 6-1, Short played strong last week in a 2-1 loss to Connecticut, stopping 32 of 34 shots. He added tonight’s victory against Holy Cross where he made 27 saves.
“He’s building his resume back up,” Wilson said.
Atlantic Hockey Roundup
Niagara 5, Air Force 2
Two empty net goals by Nick Farmer and Derek Brown by Niagara turned a close game into a 5-2 win over Air Force. Niagara led 1-0 and 3-1 on goals by Zach Mills, Farmer, and Tanner Lomsnes. Matt Serratore and Trevor Stone made sure the Purple Eagles didn’t pull away. Brian Wilson made 27 saves for the win as Niagara has now won three times the number of games they did in all of last year’s regular season.
Sacred Heart 5, Mercyhurst 3
Sacred Heart went two-for-four on the power play (and also gave up a shorthanded goal by Jack Riley) to twice open up two goal leads. Kory Kennedy and Jason Cotton did the honors. Cotton also scored earlier in the game for their initial two-goal lead. Brett Magnus made 25 saves for the win.
Army West Point 3, No. 17 Colgate 1
The Black Knights scored an impressive non-conference win for both themselves and Atlantic Hockey. Army led 3-0 after two periods on goals by Brendan McGuire, Alex Wilkinson on the power play, and Mason Krueger. An early third period goal by Colgate’s Ben Sharf was too little, too late. Jack Dempsey only needed 24 saves for the big win.
No. 3 Clarkson 5, Canisius 1
Felix Chamberland scored the lone Canisius goal in the second, but by then it was already 3-0 Clarkson after a scoreless first period. Two more scored by the Golden Knights sealed the win over the Golden Griffins. Sheldon Rempal got two for the winners.
