By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
Matt Thomas is only three games into his NCAA head coaching career at Rochester Institute of Technology, but he has already shown he’s not afraid to lay down the law.
Like on Saturday night in the annual Brick City Homecoming game at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial.
Distressed that his top line was willing to gamble in hopes of creating offense, and perturbed that they were ignoring his passionate plea to stick to the game plan, Thomas benched the trio for approximately two shifts.
Talk about embarrassing. There’s 10,556 fans in the building and the captain and top guns are glued to the bench.
“We all need a little bit of humility,” Thomas said.
Needless to say, that top line of Simon Isabelle, Tyler Mahan and Christian Catalano heard his unspoken message loud and clear.
Given the go-ahead to get back on the ice, the trio helped create the final three of RIT’s four second-period goals and powered the Tigers to a 6-2 victory over Clarkson University.
“They shut me up pretty quick with that response,” Thomas said with a smile.
It’s obviously not fun to sit, but Isabelle said his line understood.
“You’re definitely pissed but good on him for making his point,” said Isabelle, who scored the second goal before setting up goals by Crossley Stewart and Caleb Elfering late in the period as RIT opened a 4-2 lead. “I thought after that our line went even harder.”
They were hardly the only heroes, however. Elfering and fellow first-year forwards Camden Bajzer and Evan Konyen scored their first collegiate goals, the senior line of Adam Jeffery, Philippe Jacques and Austin Brimmer created big-time energy – as well as a goal – and goalie Jakub Krbecek stood tall during early game domination by the Golden Knights.
“Kuba was easily our best player the first half of the game and then he got a lot of run support in the second half,” Thomas said.
Afterward, in the dressing room, the Tigers celebrated victory No. 1 of the season (they dropped two games last weekend at home to Sacred Heart) and presented Thomas with a game puck.
“We had a slow start but we got huge contributions from our senior line,” Thomas said.
Their biggest contribution came on their first shift of the second period. Clarkson’s Jared Mangan opened the scoring 1:35 into the middle period, but the Tigers retaliated just 41 seconds later when Brimmer slammed home a Jacques rebound. Jacques created the chance by intercepting a Matthew Mayich breakout pass in the Golden Knights zone.
“Obviously response goals are huge,” Thomas said. “You need to do something to change that momentum, and if you score, man does it really deflate the other team.
“It’s nice when those older players show the younger players what it takes and how to dig in.”
The Isabelle line took charge. Isabelle broke the 1-1 tie at 6:22, driving into the deep slot and then slamming home the rebound of Catalano’s wrap-around try. It was a goal produced by a line clearly determined to make a difference.
“They’re our go-to players,” Thomas said.
Clarkson’s Luke Pakulak tied the scored at 9:10 but RIT regained the lead on Stewart’s goal at 14:02, 11 seconds after a fruitless power play ended. Stewart worked a give-and-go with Catalano off the left wing boards, one-timing home the return pass from high in the left of the slot.
The Tigers did little with a late-period power play but again ended up scoring six seconds after it ended. This time, Ben Roger passed from near the right point to Isabelle deep in the zone. Isabelle instantly moved the puck into the slot and Elfering one-timed it home at 18:31.
Bajzer and Konyen then scored in the third period as RIT put the finishing touches on an impressive victory.
“It was cool to see the freshmen step up when we needed them,” Isabelle said.
Notes: The Tigers are 8-6-4 all-time in the Brick City Homecoming game. RIT had won five in a row and was unbeaten in eight straight (5-0-3) before last year’s 2-1 overtime loss to Bowling Green. … Michigan State comes to Rochester for next year’s Brick City game. … The home-heavy early season schedule continues for the Tigers next weekend when Air Force visits the Gene Polisseni Center on Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (5 p.m.).
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