No. 20 Men's Hockey falls, 3-2, to visiting Air Force on Senior Night - Rochester Institute of Technology Athletics (2024)

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – No. 20 RIT lost, 3-2, to visiting Air Force in Atlantic Hockey action, Saturday.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Following a scoreless first period, Air Force got on the board at 3:34 of the second. Owen Baumgartner took control of a loose puck in front of the Falcon crease and out-skated the Tiger defense back to beat junior goaltender Tommy Scarfone, glove side.
• RIT evened the score with a power-play tally two minutes later. Senior defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata took a shot from the point that deflected off Falcon goaltender Guy Blessing's pads before first-year forward Matthew Wilde cleaned up a short rebound in front at 5:37.
• Junior forward Grady Hobbs put the Tigers on top at 12:46 after sophom*ore forward Simon Isabelle won a faceoff to the right of the Air Force goal back to senior defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata. Hobbs took a feed at the point and scored past Blessing who was screened by Isabelle.
• Air Force evened the score at 2:49 of the third after Parker Brown tipped a shot by Chris Hedden from the point past Scarfone. The Falcons scored what proved to be the game-winner at 12:42 after Brendan Gibbons slipped a pass behind the Tiger defense to Baumgartner in the rightfaceoff circle, who crashed the net for a goal past Scarfone.

GAME NOTES

• Six Tigers – Hansen-Bukata, Gianfranco Cassaro, Daniel Chenard, Cody Laskosky, Luke Lush, Dimitri Mikrogiannakis – were honored in a Senior Day ceremony prior to the game.
• Blessing finished the game with 41 saves to preserve the win, a night after allowing three goals and getting pulled after 13 minutes of play in the Tigers' 7-3 victory.
• Laskosky notched his team-leading 36th point and 23rd assist on Wilde's goal, along with his 12th point over the Tigers last six games.
• Wilde notched his 12th goal of the season while Hobbs added his eighth.
• Hansen-Bukata was credited with two assists for the second-consecutive game.
• Scarfone ended the night with 28 saves.
• Both teams finished 1-for-3 on the power play.
• A sellout crowd of 4,300 fans was in attendance – the third sellout at the Gene Polisseni Center since opening in 2014.

WHAT'S NEXT
RIT closes the regular season with two games opposite Canisius next Friday (Feb. 23) at home and Saturday (Feb. 24) on the road. Both games are slated for 7:05 p.m. starts.

PLAYOFF UPDATE
Already assured of no lower than the third seed an a first-round bye for the Atlantic Hockey Tournament entering the night, RIT will finish no lower than second based on the night's other results and would lock up its second-straight regular-season AHA title and the top seed for the postseason with one point in its final two games next weekend.