ROCHESTER, N.Y.—The American International College men's ice hockey team (12-17-6, 9-12-6 AHA) saw their season end tonight with a 7-1 loss in the second game of their Atlantic Hockey Championship Tournament First Round series with the RIT Tigers (15-16-5, 11-12-4 AHA).

The Tigers struck twice in the first frame, scoring both goals on special teams plays; first, sophomore forward Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ont.) and junior defenseman Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ont.) set up senior defenseman Chris Saracino (St. Louis, Mo.) for a one-timer on the power play at 11:03 for his eleventh of the year. Then, late in the period, Saracino and Garbowsky stole the puck away on the near side wall and sprung freshman forward Dan Schuler (Webster, N.Y.) on a shorthanded breakaway, which Schuler buried to give his team a 2-0 lead at 19:19; the goal was his fifth of the season.

RIT would add to the lead in the second period, starting with Garbowsky setting up Schuler on the far side, and Schuler made a quick side-step around a defender and then passed across the crease to a wide open junior defenseman Nolan Descoteaux (Dallas, Tex.) for his third of the year at 9:14. Then, junior defenseman Eliot Raibl (Vancouver, B.C.) stole the puck at neutral ice and sent in sophomore forward Brad McGowan (Langley, B.C.) for his ninth of the year at 17:45.

AIC would break up the shutout of sophomore goalkeeper Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ont.) in the third when junior right wing Jon Puskar (Grosse Ile, Mich.) dropped a pass back to freshman defenseman Brandon Lubin (Commerce Township, Mich.), whose shot was stopped by Ruby, but a follow up by freshman left wing Chris Porter (Stoufville, Ont.) became his seventh of the year at 8:05. Puskar's assist gave him 30 for his career.

However, RIT would close out the scoring with three more goals: Schuler set up Garbowsky in front of the net at 10:46 for his tenth of the year, freshman forward Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, B.C.) and Noyes had the assists on a goal by junior forward Ben Lynch (Blaine, Mich.), his tenth of the year at 13:15, and finally Lynch and freshman defenseman Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, Pa.) hit senior forward Jeff Smith (Spokane, Wash.) for his team-leading fourteenth of the year at 14:06, ending the night prematurely for senior goalkeeper Ben Meisner (Halifax, N.S.).

Ruby stopped 33 of 34 shots in the win to improve to 8-8-1 on the year, while Meisner stopped 23 of 30 in 54:03 to drop to 11-16-5 on the campaign; sophomore Chandler Long (Point Lookout, N.Y.) stopped the one shot he faced in 5:54, remaining at 1-1-0 for the season.

Meisner ends his AIC career with 3,684 saves, first all-time in Atlantic Hockey history and twelfth all-time in NCAA history; senior captain and right wing Adam Pleskach (Beausejour, Man.) finishes his career with 59 goals and 56 assists for 115 points, all second in AIC's Division I era, while Lubin's +8 is a new single-season record for the Division I Era.