Short earns first collegiate shutout as men’s hockey defeats No. 9 Providence

Courtesy of RITAthletics.com

PROVIDENCE, RI – Junior goaltender Christian Short recorded his first collegiate shutout and sophomore defenseman Chris McKay tallied his first goal, helping lead the RIT men’s hockey team (8-7-1) to a 4-0 win over No. 9 Providence (10-7-1) at Schneider Arena on Saturday evening.

Myles Powell scored a pair of goals, while Alden Dupuis added a goal and an assist. McKay’s goal proved to the game-winner. Short was tremendous in net, stopping 11 first period shots, seven in the second and 10 more in the third to win his second straight start.

Providence out-shot RIT, 28-18. RIT’s penalty-killing unit was tremendous, killing off all eight Providence power-play attempts, limiting them to just four shots on goal. The Tigers were 0-for-4 with the man-advantage, generating seven shots. RIT killed off 15 of 16 Providence power-plays in the two-game series.

The RIT defensive unit was outstanding all evening, blocking 16 Providence shots, while getting in countless passing lanes.

Providence starting goaltender Hayden Hawkey made 12 saves on 16 shots before being pulled midway through the third period. Gabe Mollot-Hill made a pair of saves in relief.

“We showed a lot of resiliancy and our penalty killing was exceptional,” said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. “Christian (Short) made some timely saves for us and we finished our chances. It was a total team effort.”

The Tigers opened the scoring 3:19 into the contest, as McKay collected a rebound at the right half wall and ripped a hard slap shot over the shoulder of Hawkey and in for his first collegiate goal. Max Mikowski dug a loose puck out of the left corner and fed a pass back to Matt Abt at the left point. Abt’s shot whistled wide, with the rebound coming right to McKay.

Short was called upon to make three big saves in the opening period. He made a big save on Robbie Hennessey in tight midway through the period. Short made two huge stops late in the period, as he robbed Josh Wilkins on the doorstep then Greg Printz from point-blank range.

RIT’s penalty-killing unit came up big in the opening period, as they had to kill off four Providence power-plays.

The Tigers stuck to their game plan in the second period, blocking shots and clogging lanes and were rewarded, scoring twice off giveaways to lead 3-0 after 40 minutes of play.

Short made two clutch saves early in the period to keep it 1-0 Tigers, robbing Vincent Desharnais on a partial breakaway, then stopping a shot by Jason O’Neill from the slot.

RIT had five shots on a power-play right after and Hawkey was up to the task, making a few point-blank stops, including one on Powell from the slot.

The Tigers would add to their lead with 5:32 left in the period, when Dupuis intercepted an errant Providence pass, turned and fired a wrist shot off the crossbar and in for his second goal of the weekend and fourth of the season.

Just 24 seconds later, RIT would make it 3-0, as Powell and Dupuis came in on a 2-on-0 after a defender fell in the neutral zone. Powell faked a shot and sent a pass to Dupuis, who in turn sent it right back across to Powell, who fired a shot into the open side for his sixth goal of the year and fourth in the last three games. Shawn Cameron also assisted on the goal.

Cameron nearly made it 4-0 in the final minute, as he broke in and fired a hard shot off the crossbar and out.

RIT would kill off a four-minute Providence power-play early in the third period and added to the lead shortly thereafter, as Powell intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, came in over the blueline and rocketed a shot off the crossbar and in for his second goal of the night and seventh of the season to make it 4-0 Tigers.

Powell now has five goals over the last three games and is plus-8 over that stretch.

That goal chased Hawkey, who was replaced by Mollot-Hill. The Tigers would continue to play strong defense the rest of the way and Short made a few big saves down to stretch to earn his first shutout. He robbed Erik Foley from the slot in the final minute to preserve the shutout.

Last night, the Friars scored three times in the first 4:53 en route to knocking off RIT, 8-3. Powell, Adam Brubacher and Dupuis scored for the Tigers, while Gabe Valenzuela and Dan Willett had two assists apiece. Providence leads the all-time series between the two schools, 3-1-0.

The win marked RIT’s first over both a non-conference and nationally-ranked foe since defeating then No. 1 Minnesota State in the 2015 NCAA Midwest Regional on March 28, 2015. It was also RIT’s first road win over a non-conference foe since defeating Michigan in the season opener on Oct. 11, 2012.

“It is a nice way to go into the holiday break, especially after last night,” said Wilson.

Tonight was RIT’s final non-conference game of the 2017-18 regular season. RIT’s final 18 regular season contests are against Atlantic Hockey foes.

The Tigers are off until Dec. 29-30, when they head to Erie, Pa. to take on Atlantic Hockey rival Mercyhurst University for a pair of games. Both contests from the Mercyhurst Ice Center get underway at 7:05 p.m.