Courtesy of RITAthletics.com
BURLINGTON, VT – The RIT women’s hockey team (4-9-2) skated to a 1-1 tie against host University of Vermont (5-9-2) from Gutterson Field House at the Windjammer Classic on Friday evening. Vermont would score the only goal in a shootout to advance to the championship game on Saturday against Minnesota-Duluth at 7 p.m. The Tigers will face No. 2 Colgate University Saturday in the consolation at 4 p.m.
Claudia Black (Newmarket, Ontario/St. Maximilian Kobe) scored RIT’s lone goal, 19 seconds into the third period on her twin sister Melissa Black, the goaltender for Vermont, which tied the game at 1-1. After a scoreless remainder of regulation and overtime, the game went to a shootout, RIT’s first at the Division I level, to determine who would advance to the championship game.
RIT nearly won the game with just over two minutes left in regulation, as a shot by Brittany Gout deflected off a couple of bodies in front and eluded Black. The puck was going towards the goal line before being cleared away by a Vermont defender. There was a lengthy video review that ensued after the next whistle and the call on the ice of no goal stood.
In the three-round shootout, Gout made a great move on Black in round two, but could not get enough on the shot for the goal. Vermont’s Taylor Willard would score what proved to be the winner right after. With a chance to keep the shootout going, Claudia Black (Newmarket, Ontario/St. Maximilian Kobe) was RIT’s final shooter. She came in and tried to fire a quick wrist shot, but sister Melissa made the glove save, allowing Vermont to move on to the championship game.
RIT goaltender Terra Lanteigne (Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia/Charles P. Allen) was tremendous, stopping 43-of-44 shots. She made 11 saves in the opening period, 15 in the second, 12 in the third and all five in overtime. Black made 25 saves for the Catamounts.
Vermont out-shot RIT, 44-26. The Catamounts were 1-for-9 on the power-play, while RIT was 1-for-7.
Despite being shorthanded four times, RIT’s penalty-killing unit was excellent during the opening 20 minutes, keeping the Catamounts off the scoreboard.
RIT had a good chance early, as Gout came out from behind the net and was denied in tight by Black. Later in the period, Black fired a shot from the right wing that was stopped by sister Melissa.
Vermont looked to have taken the lead 3:18 into the game, as Alyssa Gorecki stole a pass at her own blueline, came into the RIT zone and went to the net before knocked off the puck by Mallory Rushton (Amherst, Nova Scotia/New Hampton Prep). The play was originally ruled a goal on the ice, as the puck did cross the line. Replays showed that the net came off the moorings before the puck crossed the line and the goal was overturned.
The Tigers would get three power-plays of their own in the second period, including 50 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage, but could not take advantage. Kendall Cornine (Kinnelon, NJ/Morristown Beard) fired a shot from the right circle that Black stopped with the rebound laying in the crease, but a Tiger could not get to it in time.
Lanteigne made a huge save on a rebound attempt by Gorecki in the slot on a Vermont power-play late in the period.
Vermont would take the lead with 1:44 left in the second period on the power-play, as Amanda Drobot redirected a centering pass from Eve-Audrey Picard past a screened Lanteigne for her first goal.
Black took a feed from Kandice Sheriff (Brampton, Ontario/) right off the opening face-off in the third period and ripped a shot past her sister for the goal, her fourth of the season to tie the game at 1-1.
Minnesota-Duluth knocked off No. 2 Colgate in the opener of the Windjammer Classic from Gutterson Field House, 4-1.
RIT is now 8-3-5 all-time against Vermont, having last played them in 2014-15.
The Tigers return home next weekend, Dec. 1-2 to play CHA rival Penn State University. On Dec. 1, RIT will hold a Tiger Teddy Bear Toss. Fans are urged to bring a new stuffed animal to throw on the ice after RIT’s first goal. All stuffed animals will be donated to the Rochester Regional Health’s Children’s Unit. There will also be a holiday skate on Sunday, Dec. 3.
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