Men's Hockey | 10/13/2009 12:20:10 PM

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's hockey team plays its first road games of the 2009-10 season, traveling to northern New York to play ECAC foes St. Lawrence on Friday, Oct.16 at 7 p.m., and Clarkson at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17.

RIT opened the 2009-10 season by losing to Colgate, 3-2, before a record crowd of 7,421 fans at Blue Cross Arena on Saturday. The crowd of 7,421 easily eclipsed the previous RIT home record of 5,124 fans, set at Blue Cross Arena on Oct. 27, 2007 vs. Cornell. It is also a record for a home game involving an Atlantic Hockey Association team. RIT held a 21-6 advantage in shots over Colgate over the first 26 minutes of the game. Taylor McReynolds (Sherwood Park, Alberta/) and Stevan Matic (Burnaby, British Columbia/) scored for RIT. Freshman defenseman Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) recorded his first collegiate point, an assist on Matic's goal.  Senior goaltender Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT/) made 29 saves.

RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson has 188 career wins (188-92-24). He needs one win to become the all-time leader in coaching victories at RIT, as he is tied with Eric Hoffberg.

The Tigers are receiving seven votes in the latest USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I poll.

St. Lawrence, who is also receiving votes in the latest USCHO.com/CBS College Sports Division I poll, comes into this weekend with a 1-1 record.  Last weekend, the Saints finished third at the Mutual of Omaha Icebreaker Tournament, hosted by the University of Omaha-Nebraska.   On Friday, the Saints fell to No. 11 UMass-Lowell, 3-0, but rebounded to defeat Army, 5-2 on Saturday.  Pete Child, Derek Keller, Jeremiah Cunningham, and Aaron Bogosian each tallied two points in the win.  Kain Tisi made 21 saves to earn the win.  The Saints are picked to finish 10th in the ECAC Hockey standings by the league's preseason coaches' poll.

St. Lawrence leads the all-time series between the two schools, 6-1-0. Last season, the Saints defeated RIT by a score of 2-1 at Blue Cross Arena. Bogosian and Travis Vermeulen scored for the Saints, while goaltender Alex Petizian stopped 28 shots.  On Oct. 28, 2005, former RIT goaltender Jocelyn Guimond tied a NCAA record with 66 saves in a regulation win, as the Tigers shocked then No. 18 St. Lawrence at Ritter Arena. It was RIT's sixth game as a Division I program.

Clarkson dropped its first two games of the 2009-10 season last weekend, 6-1 and 4-3 at Michigan State.  In the first game on Friday, the game was tied at 1 after one period, before Michigan State scored the final five goals.  On Saturday, the game was tied at 3 until the Spartans scored with 2:49 left in regulation. opens its season on Friday. Matt Beca scored a goal goal in both games for the Knights.  Clarkson has a total of five players on this year's roster who have been chosen in the NHL Draft. The Golden Knights are picked to finish 11th in the ECAC Hockey standings by the league's preseason coaches' poll.

Clarkson leads the all-time series between the two clubs, 9-2-1. The Golden Knights defeated RIT, 6-4 in the Tigers' home opener last season.  RIT led 2-0 after one period, before Clarkson came roaring back with four second period goals.  The Tigers also out-shot Clarkson, 39-25 in that contest.  Clarkson has also defeated RIT twice at home since RIT moved to Division I, 5-2 during the 2005-06 season and 4-2 in 2006-07.