By Sal Maiorana
Democrat and Chronicle

(Sunday, February 3, 2002) -- Near the end of hockey games that RIT has comfortably in hand, a rather comical sound effect blares over the loudspeakers at Ritter Arena.

It's the sound of the revving engine of a bus, and it is augmented by the student body jingling its key chains, the signal to the opponent that it's time for the long ride home following a humbling defeat.

Saturday night the arena disc jockey might as well have played the bus tape the moment the puck was dropped because Hobart never had a chance against the nation's No. 2-ranked NCAA Division III team.

Gates Chili's David Bagley set the tone by scoring 41 seconds into the game and the Tigers rolled to a 7-1 victory over the Statesmen.

"This was probably our most complete game of the year," RIT coach Wayne Wilson said. "Defensively, offensively, special teams, this is the kind of game that we're expecting."

The Tigers, still smarting from last week's surprising loss to arch-rival Elmira which knocked them out of the No. 1 spot in the national poll, played raggedly in their 10-4 victory at Utica Friday.

"We were a little disappointed with our defensive play last night," said senior defenseman and co-captain Jerry Galway. "As a team that prides itself on its defensive play, we felt that we failed last night. We wanted to come out tonight and keep them off the board."

The Tigers almost accomplished that mission as only a fluke goal by Hobart's Kevin Coakley 4:50 into the third period cost RIT the shutout.

Still, it was a dominant performance as Hobart managed only 16 shots, none on its four power-play opportunities.

"This is what we're capable of doing when we put our minds to it," Wilson said of the lock-down defense.

RIT controlled the game's opening faceoff, dumped the puck into the Hobart end, and it never came out. The Tigers buzzed around the net until Bagley swatted in a backhander from the right side of the crease.

Things didn't get much better for Hobart as the Tigers dominated territorially the rest of the night. If not for the sparkling play of Hobart freshman goalie John Czaplinski, RIT would have soared into double digits for the second night in a row.

Mike Tarantino fired in a power-play goal late in the first period to make it 2-0, but Czaplinski continued to shine and eight minutes into the second period the score was unchanged.

However, Czaplinski finally began to wilt under the continuous barrage of RIT shots and the Tigers pumped in four more second-period goals.

Bagley scored his second of the night on a wraparound, and 1:32 later North Rose native Lanner Fayad converted a nifty feed by Josh Faulkner.

Ryan Fairbarn and Sam Hill made it 6-0 before Coakley was given credit for Hobart's lone goal when the rebound of his slap shot caromed off a RIT defenseman's leg and skipped past goalie Tyler Euverman.

"We learned from our mistakes against Elmira and I think we're heading in the right direction," said Euverman.