WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Senior Derek Henderson (Smithfield, R.I.) nets first collegiate goal as American International College falls to Rochester Institute of Technology, 6-2, in Atlantic Hockey Conference action this evening from the Olympia Ice Center.

AIC falls to 0-8-0 on the year and 0-2-0 in Atlantic Hockey while RIT improves to 2-4-1 and 2-0-0 in league action.

RIT opened the scoring for the second straight night jumping to an early 3-0 edge. Senior Josh Mitchell (Osoyoos, B.C.) started the scoring as he potted his first of the year at 1:16.

Freshman classmates Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ont.) and Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ont.) extended the lead further as they each registered goals just 1:14 apart at 10:09 and 11:23, respectively.

The Jackets got themselves on the scoreboard to cut into the deficit as they used a great transition breakout as sophomore John May (Mahtomedi, Minn.) passed through the neutral zone to freshman Shawn McBride (Victoria, B.C.) who carried the puck over the blue line in the right slot and dished across to sophomore Jackson Dudley (Edmonton, Alb.) who lit the lamp at 12:52.

However, the Tigers regained the three-goal edge by taking advantage of a holding call for a power=play goal by sophomore Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Sk.) at 18:09. Then just 24 ticks later sophomore Mark Goldberg (Ottawa, Ont.) extended the game further with a goal of his own for the 5-1 advantage heading into the first intermission.

AIC turned up the defensive pressure in the middle frame and chipped into the deficit as it was again May and McBride combining to assist Henderson on his first collegiate goal as the defenseman fired home a rocket from the left dot for the 5-2 score at 5:06 of the second.

"The puck luckily bounced to me and I saw the open net so I closed my eyes and just hoped the puck would go in" commented the senior.

That was all the scoring of the stanza as both defenses played tough especially the Yellow Jackets who only allowed four Tiger shots to reach sophomore goaltender Alex Murray (Burlington, Ont.) who stopped them all.

The Jackets nearly got even closer early in the third period as Dudley clanked the iron off another stellar pass from McBride.

Both defenses continued to play tough throughout the remainder of the frame, but RIT did manage some insurance as Kerins collected his second goal of the evening at 14:05 for the final tally.

Murray stopped 21 shots while falling to 0-4-0 on the year and freshman Christian Short (Vaughn, Ont.) collected 17 saves and collects his first collegiate victory to improve to 1-1-0 for RIT.

The visitors outshot the hosts 27-19 for the game while going 1-for-3 on the power-play as AIC was unable to convert their lone chance with the man-advantage.

American International returns to action next weekend as they travel to Robert Morris for a weekend set with puck drop on Friday night slated for 7:05 p.m.