By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
There are any number of engineering degrees offered at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Biomedical, chemical, electrical, mechanical, computer, microelectronic; the list seems endless.
Nowhere, however, in RIT’s Programs of Study list is there any mention of sanitation engineer.
Yet Erik Brown is on his way to magna cum laude honors in said major when it comes to his hockey curriculum. He’s become an expert on picking up the on-ice trash for the Tigers.
Brown’s two goals were all RIT needed on Saturday. The junior left winger from Keene, Ontario, scored midway through the first period and then again in the first minute of the second period as the Tigers rebounded from Friday’s overtime loss to shut out Canisius 2-0 Saturday night at the Gene Polisseni Center.
Freshman goalie Ian Andriano, making his second career start, faced just 12 shots and earned the shutout. He made 27 saves on Friday, when RIT coach Wayne Wilson gave him the start in hopes of finding a goalie who could provide confidence to a staggering team.
“From the drop of the puck tonight we were a really determined group,” Andriano said. “I can’t say enough about the defense.”
Indeed, this was a tale of two teams. On Friday the Tigers allowed Canisius leading scorer Dylan McLaughlin to do pretty much whatever he pleased with the puck. The junior winger scored two goals and set up two others, including the OT winner.
But on Saturday the Tigers were remarkably stingy. McLaughlin had just two shots on goal and was on the ice for both goals by Brown. Andriano faced just four shots in the first period, three in the second and five in the third.
“Our rush defense was great,” Andriano said. “They really couldn’t generate anything.”
The Tigers, meanwhile, enjoyed a rare early lead when Brown, positioned to the right of the crease, roofed a loose puck past goalie Daniel Urbani 9:55 into the game. It’s the first time since Jan. 5 that RIT scored the first goal.
“He’s been Johnny on the spot,” Wilson said. “He kind of has his spot over there and the goalie has to extend himself to get to the shot.”
Brown scored his team-leading 16th goal just 30 seconds into the second period. Urbani stopped a Matt Abt point shot but Brown, of course, was right at the crease to lift in the rebound.
If only more players went to the net the way Brown does. He’s tied for fifth in the nation with his 16 goals, and he’s pretty sure none have been scored from more than two stick lengths from the goal line.
“I try to sniff out where I think the puck’s going to go and the puck seemed to find me tonight,” said Brown, a biomedical engineering major in the classroom.
“Most are from that five-foot to seven-foot radius around the net. That’s how I’ve always played. They call me the garbage man. Most goals, in any league, are scored around the net from the hash marks down.”
The Tigers (8-8-1 in Atlantic Hockey, 9-12-2 overall) play twice at Holy Cross next weekend before hosting Bentley on Feb. 2-3.
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