Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' Part 2 - The Playoffs
Re: >>>>> RIT TIGERS 2009-2010 <<<<< Rockin' Part 2 - The Playoffs
I wanted to put this together to put into perspective what RIT has accomplished. So I started typing. Hopefully others will find it interesting. It’s very long, a nice history since 98, very long you may want to print it out for bathroom reading where some think most of my stuff should be read. Yes I did spell check it so it should be readable and the post will be in two parts. It’s about how RIT has come to this point.
I came to campus in the fall of 98’ to RIT, for a sports guy I wasn’t sure what was in store for me. As a former 4 year High School football starter, I had offers to play D-III football at a few colleges, but chose RIT for the educational value. I was a half decent baseball player, but played on a team filled with future college players in High School and was cut my senior year in favor of a Junior who would be cut on his senior year.
So I wasn’t sure what I would do to get my sports fix. I heard that there was a pretty good hockey team there. Hockey had been a sport that always fascinated me, spending the most of my life in Buffalo I enjoyed watching the Sabres, but really didn’t know much outside of the basic rules of the game and the style the Sabres played at the time which was rely on Dominic Hasek. I considered myself a student of the games I played, Baseball and Football. Believe that ever game I could learn something and thought I had mastered them pretty well. I then set out to learn a new sport of hockey and I never thought it would take me to where it has today.
Shock hit me as I walked up to the Ritter for the opening game against York in 98’. An hour before the game they were lined up outside the Ritter for tickets, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get in. I didn’t have to as only 873 were at the game, but they all got there early. RIT scored early just two minutes into the game, Luke Murphy from Pat Staerker on what I remember was a pretty goal. RIT would crush York that night 11-1 and roll over many teams that year. They beat then D-I Nebraska-Omaha in back to back games in Nebraska. They only lost 1 game and tied two others on their way to the D-III Frozen Four. Then the wheels came flying off as then head coach Eric Hoffberg told his team he was leaving and the team fall apart losing 9-3 in the semi final to Middlebury and then 9-2 to Norwich in the consolation game.
Wayne Wilson arrived on campus for the 99-00 year with a team that had not much recruiting done, hell he had to rush to get jerseys for the team as the ones he was left with where falling apart. As rumor has it, he got goaltender Tyler Euverman after watching one game on film and getting a recommendation from a still unknown person to me.
The start of Wilson’s career at RIT, well maybe could have been worst, RIT did beat Seneca 8-2, but they lost All American and future POTY Jerry Galway for the season with a shoulder separation. Tyler Euverman also allowed a goal on the first shot he faced. RIT went 11-3 to start the year, but for a team that did not lose a game in the first half of 98-99 there were questions. RIT lost a heart breaker to Elmira in OT when Adam Driscoll stick broke at the blue line allowing a breakaway goal for Eddie Cassie to win the game. This win put EC back in the lead for the ECAC West and for the Pool B bid, which was the only bid either team could get into the NCAAs. Wilson called the broken stick play “..perhaps an act of god?”.
RIT did bounce back for a 5-0 win at Fredonia, and then 6-3 at Oswego for my first RIT rode game where I found that members of the corner crew were not so bad people, still not so sure about Goon . However, RIT dropped a very disappointing game at home against Oswego the next night 7-4. Many bad penalties were taken by RIT and a couple players were sent to the locker room early, including all American Pat Staerker. It seemed like the season was slipping away, but the Tigers reacted to Wilson’s moves and did not lose another game during the regular season. They got revenge on Elmira with a 3-1 win at the Ritter and then won the ECAC West Tournament with another 3-1 win over Elmira. The Tigers proved no match for eventual Champion Norwich in the NCAA quarters, but many felt that Wilson’s first year was a success for the Tigers to go that far.
The next year, a healthy RIT team would dominate the D-III ranks. They won all regular season games except for one tie with Oswego when their starting goaltender was hurt. They did lose an exhibition game to the USA under 18 team which features guys like future BC star Steven Gionta and Michigan stand out Eric Nystrom. All though after losing to that US team 4-1 RIT would come back the next night and beat that USA team loaded with future D-I players, 4-2.
Mike Bournazakis would score a big OT winner at Elmira on a great tip off a Jerry Galway shot. It would be one of Randy’s most famous goal calls, “Burn Baby Burn!” RIT would end the regular season with a 7-1 spanking of Elmira and cruse to an 8-2 ECAC West championship over Manhattanville. After crushing Lebannon Valley to reach the Frozen Four, RIT dispatched River Falls 5-2 to set up a title game against Plattsburgh at the Ritter. The Tigers had beaten the Cardinals in Plattsburgh 8-2 earlier that year. The Corner Crew was ready to celebrate, the champagne was on ice. But the Tigers fall victim to the old saying “that is why they play the game”. Plattsburgh got off to a to a 2-0 lead, Derek Hahn cut it to 2-1, but then Tyler Euverman allowed a softie and Plattsburgh never looked back on its way to a 6-2 shocking win at the Ritter. I will never forget the site of Mike Bourazakis on his knees after the game trying to figure out what happen.
As disheartening as the loss in the Championship game was, RIT looked forward to following season. They got a boost when a Gates-Chili native David Bagley transferred from SUNY Geneseo to RIT. RIT won its first nine games, but then trouble came to light before the 10th game against Wentworth. A party that got out of hand at the hotel in Wisconsin would bring suspensions against ¾ of the team. RIT had to play two games severely shorthanded and dropped a game against Wentworth. They seem to rebound and won nine straight games, including another spilt with the USA under 18 team, all though the loss was 7-1 it was brushed off cause it was played on an Olympic Size rink.
Something was bothering many of us though, something seemed off. It came more to light when RIT allowed 3 goals in the first period against Elmira. They did fight back to 3-2, but could not complete the comeback and lost 4-2. RIT went into the last game of the year needing a win against Elmira to have the ECAC West Tournament come back to RIT. Again RIT got off to a slow start and Elmira took a 3-1 lead into the third period. Then Jerry Galway gave the speech of his life during the second intermission and RIT outshot Elmira 19-9 in the third, Jason Chafe and Lanner Fayad scored 1:25 apart to tie the game. Then as time was winding down Dave Bagley fired the puck from center ice behind the Elmira goal, Mike Tarantino out fought two EC player for the puck and found Sam Hill all alone in front for the game winner with 2 seconds left in the 3rd. That is when sound had feeling; the siren was going off for a good 2 minutes and no one heard it because it was so loud.
RIT would go on to win the ECAC West Tournament 2-1, Elmira all most forced over time, but the final shot went into the net 1 second after the final horn sounded. In the NCAAs RIT and Plattsburgh met in a 2 game series with both games ending in ties. They were two of the best D-III games I have ever seen. What they did in those days, was instead of playing a third game the next night, they played the dreaded Mini Game after the second game. A 20 Minute game, who ever won that period won the weekend. Plattsburgh won 1-0 against a very banged up and tired RIT team.
The uneasy feeling from that year went into the next year. RIT again started hot, but a disappointing tie in a revenge game at Wentworth, fueled by Wentworth’s Raj Bhangoo making 49 saves. A 7-2 loss to Manhattanville and this year they were swept at the Ritter against the USA Under 18 team. They also lost two to Oswego and tied at Elmira. A goal from center ice made the Tigers settle for that tie in Elmira, they did beat Elmira at the Ritter 5-3. However they would drop the ECAC West Championship game to Elmira at the Ritter 4-3. The NCAA Selection Committee would leave them home that year.
