RIT Downs Guelph in Exhibition Opener
Matt Crowell was the first star, scoring two goals and an assist as RIT downed Guelph, 6-1.
Matt Crowell (Kelowna, British Columbia) had two goals and an assist as the RIT men’s hockey team cruised to a 6-1 win over the University of Guelph in an exhibition game on Thursday evening. The Tigers scored three goals in the first 3:18 to give themselves a big cushion.
“It was nice to see us come out as strong as we did,” says RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson. “We had plenty of practice on special teams and we were able to practice situations we'll see later in the season.”
Simon Lambert (St. Therese, Quebec) gave RIT a 1-0 lead 18 seconds into the contest on assists from Anton Kharin (Twin Lake, Mich.) and Darrell Draper (Tigard, Ore.).
Crowell’s first goal came at 3:04 of the first with assists going to Kharin and Justin Hofstetter (Bright, Ontario).
Ricky Walton (Newmarket, Ontario) scored the third goal of the period at 3:18 on assists from Brennan Sarazin (Nepean, Ontario) and Al Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia).
Crowell rounded out the scoring at 19:01 of the first with assists going to Lambert and Mazur.
Both teams exchanged goals in the second period. Zach Lillie got the Gryphons on the board at 2:07 of the period on an assist from Jonathan Southgate.
Jesse Newman (Westbank, British Columbia) answered with a power play goal at 5:33 on assists from Bobby Raymond (Lucknow, Ontario) and Crowell.
Senior Matt Smith (Toronto, Ontario) scored the lone goal in the thirdperiod. He had a power play goal at 7:48 with assists going to Kharin and Sean Murphy (Owatonna, Minn.).
RIT out shot Guelpg 40-19. Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, Quebec) got the start in net, making eight saves. Jared DeMichiel (Avon, Conn.) played the second half of the game, making 10 saves.
The Tigers were 3-10 on the power play and the Gryphons went 0-11 with the man advantage.
RIT opens the regular season on Saturday, September 13 versus Colgate University. Face-off is at 7:05 p.m.
For more, visit RIT Athletics.