ROCHESTER, N.Y.—The ninth-seeded American International College men's ice hockey team (12-16-6, 9-12-6 AHA) dropped a 2-1 decision in Game 1 of their Atlantic Hockey Tournament First Round series against the eighth-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers (14-16-5, 11-12-4 AHA) at the Frank Ritter Arena.

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The Tigers scored the lone goal of the first period on a two-man advantage, with junior defenseman Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ont.) setting up junior left wing Mike Colavecchia (Maple, Ont.) for a one-timer that deflected off of the post behind AIC senior goalkeeper Ben Meisner (Halifax, N.S.) and to the rushing senior defenseman Chris Saracino (St. Louis, Mo.) for his tenth of the year at 13:58.

However, the Yellow Jackets tied it in the second, as freshman left wing Chris Porter (Stoufville, Ont.) stole a puck in his defensive slot area and threaded a pass to junior right wing Jon Puskar (Grosse Ile, Mich.), who ripped a wrist shot low glove off the post and in past sophomore goalkeeper Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ont.) for his twelfth of the year at 3:16 of the frame.

RIT would regain their lead with just 12.5 left in the period; off of a turnover in the defensive zone, and sophomore center Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ont.) made a short pass to classmate and left wing Brad McGowan (Langley, B.C.) along the wall, who found freshman right wing Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, B.C.) in front for his second of the year to make it 2-1. From there, the Tigers and Yellow Jackets played a scoreless third period to lead to the final.

In net, Meisner fell to 11-15-5 on the year by stopping 30 of 32 shots, while Ruby improved to 7-8-1 for the season with 32 saves on 33 shots.

The teams will meet again tomorrow for Game 2 at 7:05 PM, with Game 3 to be played Sunday at 7:05 PM if necessary.