Rochester, N.Y. – RIT junior forward Jake Hamacher scored a hat trick to lead the Tigers to a 4-1 victory over Bentley University on Friday night at the Polisseni Center.

RIT and Bentley came into the series in 4^th and 5^th place in the Atlantic Hockey standings, respectively, as the teams jostle for a potential first round bye and playoff seeding as the regular season winds down.

Hamacher scored the game's first goal at 13:34 of the 1^st period, after a centering pass by Caleb Moretz from the left wing found its way to Hamacher in the slot for a shot on goal.

The Tigers ended the first period ahead 1-0, and shots were 6-6 for both teams at the end of 20 minutes.

In the 2^nd period RIT built its lead with two power play goals. Hamacher got his second of the night at the 3:41 mark. RIT worked the puck down low and a pass by Alden Dupuis hit Hamacher in the right face-off circle. Hamacher's shot then took a deflection off the traffic in front of the net for the goal.

RIT then made it 3-0 late in the 2^nd period with a power play goal by Will Calverley.

Bentley got back in it with a goal by senior defenseman Brett Orr (Elkhorn, Manitoba) at 11:20 of the 3^rd period to make it a 3-1 game. Jonathan Desbiens (Montreal, Quebec) started a break from the defensive zone with a quick pass out to Luke Santerno (Smithers, B.C.). Santerno then fed freshman Matt Gosiewski (Wilton, Conn.) down the right wing, who passed it back to Desbiens down the left side. Desbiens put the puck on net, and as Orr was trailing the play he jumped on the loose puck to score his 2^nd goal of the season.

The Falcons though could not get any closer, and Hamacher scored an empty net goal for RIT with 1:16 remaining to make it 4-1.

Bentley will look to gain a series split when the series concludes on Saturday at 5:05.