Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
0-1-1, 0-1-0
RIT
1-1-0, 1-0-0
Hockey Falls to RIT 3-2 to Begin Atlantic Hockey Schedule
October 07, 2022 | Hockey
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Army West Point hockey (0-1-1, 0-1-0 AHA) suffered a 3-2 defeat on the road against RIT (1-1-0, 1-0-0 AHA) to begin Atlantic Hockey conference play on Friday night.
After trailing 2-0 in the second period, the Black Knights battled back with a pair of goals within a minute of each other to tie score, with the Tigers eventually scoring with winner with 4:12 remaining in the contest.
Brett Abdelnour and Joey Baez picked up the goals for the Black Knights, with John Keranen adding assists on both tallies.
It was a chippy start to conference play for both sides, with the teams battling through a scoreless first period which featured a major penalty and game misconduct on the Tigers. Neither team was able to break through in the first 20 minutes, with Army totaling seven shots on target compared to the Tigers' six as RIT welcomed fans back for its home opener.
RIT would take advantage on the power play in period two with 12:18 remaining, with Kobe Walker scoring the first goal of the game on a rebound after Gavin Abric did well to make the initial save. RIT would add another goal through Elijah Gonsalves less than three minutes later, giving RIT the crucial two-goal advantage.
Needing a goal before the third period, Army would find it at the 15:02 mark on the power play with a Brett Abdelnour one-timer off a feed from Max Itagaki behind the net. It marked the first power play goal of the season for the Black Knights and first collegiate point for Itagaki.
Less than a minute later, Army would tie the score with Joey Baez scoring his second in as many games. From his stomach, Baez poked a pass over to John Keranen entering the zone on a break. Keranen would find Abdelnour trailing who gave the recovering Baez a perfect feed to tie the score at two, turning the game on its head.
After entering the third deadlocked, each team would have an unsuccessful attempt on the power play to begin the final period. Winning the shots battle 14-8 in the period, RIT would capitalize with just under five minutes remaining with an even strength goal from Aiden Hansen-Bukata. The Black Knights would take a penalty with just over three minutes remaining and were unable to score in the closing minutes with their empty-net attempts to tie it.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Joey Baez scored his second goal of the season with his second period tally to tie the game.
- Brett Abdelnour recorded the third multi-point game of his career with his goal and assist.
- John Keranen assisted on both goals on the night, his sixth multi-point effort in an Army uniform.
- Gavin Abric made 26 saves in net and boasts a .906 save percentage through two starts.
- Max Itagaki tallied his first Army point with the primary assist on Abdelnour's power play goal.
- Jake Felker won 6-of-9 faceoffs for a 66.7 FO%.
Up Next
Army will take on the Tigers again tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. to wrap up the weekend series.
