Men's Hockey | 11/4/2008 12:49:36 PM

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's hockey team will look to extend its winning streak to three games on Friday, embarking on the short drive west on I-90 to play the Niagara University Purple Eagles at 7:05 p.m.

The Tigers (3-4-1, 2-1-1 AHA) are on a roll after sweeping Holy Cross by scores of 5-1 and 5-2 last weekend.  RIT extended their winning streak over the Crusaders to 10 games and kept their streak of scoring five goals in a game against Holy Cross to seven in a row.  RIT's power-play also came alive, scoring five times over the weekend.  On Saturday, the Tigers scored two shorthanded goals in a game for the first time as a Division I program. 

Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades) (Oakville, Ontario) tallied four power-play assists in the two games.  He now leads the team in scoring with nine points (1-8-9) in eight games.  Senior forward Jesse Newman (Kelowna, British Columbia/Trail Smokeeaters) (Westbank, British Columbia) recorded a shorthanded goal and assist on Saturday.  He is second on the team with seven points.  Goaltenders Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, Quebec/Ottawa Senators) (Chicoutimi, Quebec) and Jared DeMichiel (Avon, Conn./Chicago Steel) (Avon, CT) picked up a win apiece last weekend.  Menard was named the Atlantic Hockey Association Goaltender of the Week on Monday.

Niagara (2-5-1) dropped a pair of road contests at Maine last weekend, 4-2 and 4-1.  Niagara out-shot Maine in both contests.  Brian Dowd leads Niagara with six points (3-3-6) in eight games, while Chris Moran has a team-high four goals.  Goaltender Juliano Pagliero has a 2.93 goals against average and .908 save percentage in seven games.

Niagara leads the all-time series, 4-3-3.  Niagara is 2-0-1 against RIT since 2005.  Last season, Brennan Sarazin's (Nepean, Ontario) goal with 1:04 left in regulation propelled RIT to a 3-3 against Niagara, who was ranked 20th in the nation.  Niagara defeated RIT 3-2 on Nov. 19, 2005 at Dwyer Arena, and 5-3 at RIT on Jan. 6, 2007.