By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
So this is what it feels like to be an also-ran in Atlantic Hockey America.
The established gold standard within Atlantic Hockey for more than a decade, the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers are now the team others fatten up on.
Like on Friday night, when Niagara University roared into the Gene Polisseni Center and thumped the Tigers 7-0.
“This is what we are right now,” RIT coach Wayne Wilson said after the Tigers fell to 5-19-1 (4-12-1 in AHA play).
Indeed, the record doesn’t lie. Whereas the Gene had always been a place where opponents’ hopes came to die, the on-campus arena is now just another rink where the Tigers lose on Friday and Saturday nights. They’re 1-8 on home ice this year.
This from the team that won the AHA regular season and playoff championships last year and put a mild scare into Boston University in last year’s NCAA tournament.
But this year, having lost their top four players to the transfer portal and four other key components to graduation, the Tigers just can’t match the talent of most opponents. They don’t generate consistent offensive-zone pressure. They lack explosiveness. They spend far too much time in their own zone, chasing the game rather than controlling it.
And that’s why they sit 10th in the 11-team league, just one point ahead of Mercyhurst.
“Last year was a picture-perfect year,” sophomore center Tyler Fukakusa said. “This year has been the complete opposite.”
Friday’s touchdown loss to Niagara was pretty much the season in a microcosm. They played well in spurts but they were forced to kill penalties, derailing momentum. Then they fell behind. And then they had no answer for Niagara’s forecheck and ability to cycle the puck and maintain O-zone time.
“Mentally we’re just not able to fight through,” Wilson said. “You’re trying to help the guys and you know they’re working hard but it’s frustrating for everyone.”
At times, they’re not that far from success. They fell behind 1-0 at 12:04 of the second period but played even with Niagara (13-10-3, 11-5-2) for the next 21 minutes.
Fukakusa then had a chance to tie the score at 11:20 of the second period, racing in alone on Purple Eagles goalie Pierce Charleston, only to be denied. Instead of a 1-1 tie, Niagara maintained the lead, then extended it to 2-0 when a pinballing puck caromed in off a skate at less than two minutes later.
“If I score, it’s a completely different game,” said Fukakusa, the Tigers leading scorer (7-19-26), who earlier in the week was announced as a Hobey Baker nominee.
Not long after, the rout was on. Trevor Hoskin intercepted a Xavier Lapointe D-to-D pass just inside the Niagara blue line and sped away on a breakaway to score on goalie Trent Burnham with just 4.6 seconds left in the period.
By the time the third period was three minutes old, Niagara led 6-0 and rolled to the convincing victory.
“We just been in a rut and we’ve struggled to find confidence,” Fukakusa said. “It feels like sometimes the puck can’t leave our end, that the ice is tilted. That’s just confidence.”
That’s perhaps why Wilson sees better things ahead, knowing that if they regain confidence, then victories will start to come.
“We can be better than our record is,” he said.
Rallying behind Stu
The Tigers and their fans showed support for long-time ice operation manager Stu Hughes during and after the game.
Hughes is battling stage four esophageal cancer and hasn’t been at the Gene while receiving treatment.
He’s known for the fine ice at the Gene but more so for his famous Zamboni donuts in front of the Corner Crew after playoff series victories.
So when Hughes climbed aboard the Zamboni during the second period intermission and led the resurfacing, there was a thunderous applause from the crowd of 3,946.
After the game, the Tigers gathered in front of the Corner Crew for photos with Hughes with a banner that read Fight for Stu.
“I haven’t been here that long,” Fukakusa said, “but just seeing what he means to the Corner Crew and how much they love him, that trickles down to us and we really appreciate all he has done.”
Notes: The 7-0 loss matched the worst shutout loss ever by RIT in the Division I era (they lost 7-0 to AIC on home ice on Feb. 4, 2022 … RIT is 4-4-1 when they score the game’s first goal, 1-14 when they don’t.
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