ROCHESTER, NY — Tonight turned out to be 60 minutes of garbage time for Rochester Institute of Technology. The Tigers’ Erik Brown scored both goals to lead RIT to a 2-0 win over first-place Canisius to earn a weekend split with the Golden Griffins.
Both of Brown’s goals were from in close range, and that’s been typical of the 16 he’s scored this season.
“They called me ‘the garbage man’ at pretty much every level I’ve played,” said Brown. “My bread and butter’s around the net area. I try to sniff out where the puck’s going to go, off of rebounds or re-directions. The puck seemed to find me tonight.”
After dropping a 5-4 overtime decision on Friday, RIT played a high-tempo first period against Canisius, outshooting the Golden Griffins 13-4.
Brown got the all-important first goal at 9:55, slamming home an initial shot by Matt Abt, which went off of a defender’s skate and right to the junior forward.
“We needed the first goal tonight, without question,” said RIT coach Wayne Wilson. “Our confidence has been shaky, and when you don’t have confidence, the puck always seems to bounce the other team’s way.”
The second period was a repeat of the first, with the Tigers outshooting Canisius 13-3 and Brown again lighting the lamp from in close, also on an initial shot by Abt.
(“Brown’s) been kind of Johnny on the spot,” said Wilson. “He gets to the tough areas, he’s been around the net, he works hard.”
Freshman Ian Andriano, making just his second career start, stopped all 12 shots he faced for his first collegiate win and shutout. Seven of those saves came in the third period, when Canisius had a pair of power plays.
“Obviously it’s great to get that out of the way,” said Andriano. “I thought the team played unbelievable tonight. We needed a win for sure. “
RIT outshot Canisius 33-12. Daniel Urbani made 26 saves for the Golden Griffins, including a stop on a breakaway by RIT’s Shawn Cameron in the second period.
Canisius pulled Urbani while on a power play with 2:29 left for a six-on-four situation, but couldn’t solve Andriano and the Tiger defense.
“I can’t say enough about our defense tonight,” said Andriano. “From the drop of the puck, I thought we were a determined group.”
Expect Andriano to get the start next Friday, when the Tigers visit Holy Cross.
“We’re going to go with the hot hand (in net) right now,” said Wilson. “We’ve been rotating goalies quite a bit, trying to strike something here. So this is one weekend and we’ll try to build off this weekend and on to the next.”
The victory ended a five game winless streak for the Tigers, who were 0-4-1 in the new year coming into the game. Canisius is now 1-5-1 in its last seven games. The Golden Griffins, who maintained their hold on first place (tied with Holy Cross), are at Bentley next weekend.
“I think tonight is going to be important for us going into February,” said Wilson. “The league is so tight that whomever is hottest at the end of the year could be the favorite regardless of the standings.”
