By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Wayne Wilson might want to change his recruiting strategy.
In his two decades guiding Rochester Institute of Technology’s men’s hockey team in the NCAA Division I era, there rarely (never?) has been an emphasis on package deals or plucking two or three players from the same team.
But considering the success that Tyler Fukakusa, Matthew Wilde and Christian Catalano are having as freshmen this season, Wilson and associate head coaches Brian Hills and Dave Insalaco may need to rethink their approach to stocking the roster.
For the second night in row, the all-freshman line of Fukakusa, Wilde and Catalano powered the offense as top-seeded RIT completed the two-game sweep of Robert Morris with a 5-1 victory on Saturday night in the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals.
Fukakusa scored once and set up goals by Catalano and Gianfranco Cassaro while Simon Isabelle and Xavier Lapointe also found the net for the Tigers, who outscored the Colonials 12-1 in the two games at the Gene Polisseni Center.
“They’re making a big impact as freshmen,” said Wilson, whose team will play seventh-seeded Niagara in the best-of-three semifinals this coming weekend at the Gene.
They made a very big impact this weekend against Robert Morris. Fukakusa piled up three goals and three assists in the two games, Catalano produced 2-1-3 and Wilde had 1-2-3.
Of course, considering they were linemates for the 2021-22 season with the Toronto Jr. Canadians of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, and that Wilde and Fukakusa also were OJHL linemates last season, a certain degree of production was expected.
But freshmen usually need time to a) adjust to the collegiate game and b) earn the trust of the coaching staff.
“It’s very seldom we have three freshmen but we decided to keep them together and all are having success, and that just doesn’t happen,” Wilson said.
Said Fukakusa, who has 8-18-26 in 36 games: “We came here hoping we were going to play together.”
They’ve been linemates all season, moving up the line chart from No. 4 when the season began, to No. 3 before October ended, and then to their current slot at No. 2 in late January.
“We all have a similar skill set but also excel at different areas of the game,” Wilde said after Friday’s 7-0 victory, when he set the freshman goal-scoring record with his 16th (to go with 14 assists).
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Said Catalano (9-5-14): “We’ve just kept it simple all year. We’re getting pucks deep and getting pucks on net.”
They delivered big-time on Saturday by scoring the game-breaking goals, the first in the waning seconds of the first period and the second in the first minute of the second period.
In less than a minute of clock time, a 1-0 lead became a 3-0 cushion and the Tigers (24-10-2) steamrolled RMU the rest of the way.
“We didn’t want to play Sunday,” Wilson said of a Game 3 scenario had Robert Morris won on Saturday. “If you play Sunday, you run the risk of wearing your team out. And anything can happen in a third game.”
The kid line may be counted on for even more production as the playoffs continue. Senior winger Cody Laskosky suffered what appeared to be a shoulder injury on the game’s first shift. He was mashed awkwardly into the corner boards by defenseman Mitch Andres, who then fell on top of Laskosky.
Isabelle helped ignite the Tigers attack at 14:22 of the first period by firing home a nifty pass from defenseman Kevin Scott. Scott gathered in a loose puck at the left hash mark and, with the Colonials expecting a shot, instead found Isabelle speeding in through the left circle and goalie Chad Veltri had no chance to stop Isabelle.
“You get the first goal, it demoralizes them,” Wilson said.
The kid line then provided the comfort zone with a buzzer-beater before the period ended. Catalano led a quick fastbreak out of the Tigers zone with 10.8 seconds remaining. His shot from right circle was stopped but the rebound caromed out into the left circle and Fukakusa fired it home with four seconds remaining.
“I was just lucky the rebound went right onto my stick,” he said.
They produced again 57 seconds into the second period, this time using a play from their junior days off a faceoff to the left of Veltri. With Catalano lined up along the right edge of the slot, Fukakusa won the draw directly to him and his quick wrist shot zipped past Veltri.
“We ran the play two years ago and Catalano said he was feeling it so went with it,” Fukakusa said.
The lead became 4-0 at 8:11 of the second when Lapointe’s high wrister from the left point sailed past a screened Veltri. Tanner Klimpke ended Tommy Scarfone’s bid for a second consecutive shutout at 11:31 of the third period and then Cassaro provided clinching insurance with 5:25 to play.
Notes: Cassaro continues to lead NCAA defensemen with 16 goals. … Wilde’s goal-scoring streak ended at six games. … With an assist on Cassaro’s goal, graduate student Elijah Gonsalves reached the 100-point milestone for his career. … Laskosky had his nine-game point streak end. … The Tigers went 1-1-1 against Niagara during the regular season.
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