Men's Hockey | 10/6/2016 8:30:00 AM

ROCHESTER, NY — Starting Oct. 7, RIT SportsZone will be hosting a 30-minute pregame television broadcast live from the Gene Polisseni Center, that will be aired on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (channel 26 or 98) preceding all men's hockey broadcasts during the 2016-17 season (excluding the Brick City Homecoming game vs. UConn at Blue Cross Arena on Oct. 15).
 
"We're enhancing something that we're already doing," said Kevin Roche, executive producer and host of the SportsZone Pregame Show and All-Access. "People are in love with hockey here, so we said, 'let's do more with that. RIT has the only Division I hockey in town, and we're taking that to a new level and showcasing our athletic programs and our school."

The pregame show will begin at 6:30pm and will feature highlights, LIVE interviews, analysis and more, prior to faceoff.  Gene Battaglia and John DiTullio will be regular contributors to the program and will handle the play-by-play duties for RIT hockey broadcasts for a ninth consecutive season.

RIT SportsZone debuted as a single sports program in 2002.  The show aired for fourteen seasons, and was consistently recognized as one of the best sports programs in the nation. In 2012 SportsZone earned "Best Newscast" honors with a College Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Foundation.
 
"We've continued our commitment to teaching students. We don't teach broadcasting here at RIT, so this experience is a whole new world to a lot of them," said Roche. "They're learning all this new stuff that if they want to go on into this world, they can take what they learn here and move on and do great things."
 
RIT SportsZone has grown exponentially through the years, expanding from one show to a multi-media production ensemble, which includes RIT SportsZone LIVE and RIT SportsZone Pregame.   
 
In 2008, RIT SportsZone LIVE began broadcasting all men's hockey and select women's hockey contests on Time Warner Cable.   SportsZone LIVE is scheduled to broadcast over 25 athletic events during the 2016-17 season.