Courtesy of RITAthletics.com
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT senior defenseman Gianfranco Cassaro scored a pair of goals while sophomore forward Carter Wilkie added a goal and two assists to lead the Tigers past visiting Sacred Heart, 3-1, in Atlantic Hockey action, Saturday.
RIT completed the two-game sweep of the Pioneers after also earning a 3-1 victory on Friday night to kick off the series between the top-two teams in the Atlantic Hockey standings entering the week.
Sacred Heart opened the scoring with 8:42 left in the first period after Marcus Joughin scored on a shot from the left face-off circle through a crowd in front of Tiger sophomore goaltender Tommy Scarfone.
RIT scored a pair of nearly identical power-play goals in the second period to take the lead. Both times, Wilkie and junior defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata cycled the puck to Cassaro in the right face-off circle for a pair of near-post blasts past Pioneer goaltender Luke Lush.
Wilkie tacked on an empty-net goal with 31.1 seconds left in regulation, backhanding a puck from the opposite blue line to close the night.
Off to its best start in the Division I era, RIT (10-2-0, 9-1-0 AHA) improved to 7-0-0 at home this season.
Cassaro (7G/7A), Wilkie (5G/9A) and Hansen-Bukata (2G/12A) are tied for the team lead with 14 points apiece.
Wilkie also iced Friday’s victory with a long-distance empty net goal in the final second of regulation.
Scarfone finished the night with 19 saves to improve to 9-1-0 this season. Also credited with 37 stops on Friday, he only allowed two goals on 58 shots faced over 120 minutes during the weekend for a .967 save percentage.
RIT finished 2-of-5 on the power play for its fourth game of the season with multiple power-play goals. The Tigers entered the week tied for fourth nationally with a .314 power play percentage.
The Tigers killed four of five penalties to finish the series killing 7-of-8 Pioneer extra man attempts. RIT entered the week seventh nationally with an .884 penalty killing percentage.
Wilkie also finished the night with 13-of-20 face-off wins.
Head Coach Wayne Wilson moved into 43rd place in NCAA men’s hockey history with his 419th career win, breaking a tie with former St. Thomas coach Terry Skrypek.
RIT hosts the USA Under-18 National Team for an exhibition next Saturday (Nov. 19) at 7:05 p.m.
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