By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Here’s how you know the Rochester Institute of Technology men’s hockey team might be pretty good:
» When you win your Brick City Homecoming game 4-0 over Merrimack College — and your fourth line scores two of the goals.
“It’s the perfect storm right now,” said junior center Bryson Traptow, who assisted on two goals. “It’s waves after waves and teams can’t handle it.”
» When your junior goalie, Logan Drackett, makes 22 saves for the shutout and lowers his goals-against average to 1.51 while raising his save percentage to .951.
“We have the utmost confidence in him; we just expect him to do this every night,” Traptow said.
» When three of the 11 goals produced in the first four games are scored by freshmen, including one by Elijah Gonsalves on Saturday night.
“They’re good enough (to contribute) but there’s a maturity level, so it’s good to see them scoring this early,” RIT coach Wayne Wilson said.
» When your record sits at 3-1 before you even begin Atlantic Hockey league play.
“The last two years we’ve kind of struggled out of conference so this gives us a confidence boost,” Traptow said.
» When you lose the down-low focal point of the power play from the previous two years (Erik Brown) and Shawn Cameron steps right into the role and you don’t miss a beat. Cameron has three goals in four games, all on the power play.
» When, despite all of those things, Drackett says, “I can’t say enough about our D-corps right now. I think they’re the best part of our team.”
Yes, it’s early, but a 3-1 record — including a victory over Bowling Green, at the time the No. 17-rated team in the country — is a nice look, especially when you haven’t even played in your home rink.
“But we can’t get complacent, we can’t get too high,” Drackett said. “We just have to stay on an even keel.”
That wasn’t easy to do on Saturday night, at least for the freshman, who skated out with the Tigers to a sea of orange and 9,805 fans filling Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial in downtown Rochester.
“I knew it would be like this and I still can’t put into words what it felt like,” Gonsalves said.
Drackett was clutch early, keeping the game scoreless by stopping Liam Walsh off a three-on-two fastbreak at 4:30 and then kicking out his right leg to deny a tricky shot by Regan Kimens at 11:10.
RIT senior center Ryan Kruper then gave the Tigers the lead at 13:52, cutting into the slot from the left wing and around defenseman Loban Drevitch before firing a low shot past goalie Troy Kobryn.
Sophomore left winger Andrew Petrucci pushed the lead to 2-0 at 18:30, sweeping in a Gonsalves rebound after Traptow had kept the puck alive during a goal-mouth scramble.
Gonsalves’ first collegiate goal gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead at 18:12 of the second period off a play that’s practiced every week — and maybe every day — in practice.
The puck was shot into the right wing corner from the neutral zone and Traptow won the race, passing it around behind the net to Petrucci in the left wing circle. He immediately moved it to the slot and Gonsalves one-timed it home.
“It’s a big relief to score,” Gonsalves said, “but it feels nicer to win.”
The Tigers may have that feeling quite often this season.
Leave a Reply