Men's Hockey | 11/17/2009 1:50:38 PM

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's hockey team, winners of six straight contests, takes on the Sacred Heart Pioneers at Ritter Arena on Friday, Nov. 20 and Saturday, Nov. 21 in a pair of exciting Atlantic Hockey contests. Friday's game begins at 7:05 p.m., while Saturday's contest gets underway at a special time of 4:05 p.m.

Tim Horton's is sponsoring Friday's contest, as it is Youth Hockey Night. Any youth hockey player in eighth grade or below who wears their jersey gets in free. In addition, Tim Horton's will be giving away free coffee and hot chocolate, and there will be a Timbits Youth Hockey game during the first intermission. On Saturday, Golden Memories Transportation is the game sponsor.

RIT (6-5-0, 6-2-0 AHA) is looking to extend its winning streak to seven games, after defeating Mercyhurst, 3-2, and 2-1 on the road last weekend. Junior forward Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) recorded five points over the weekend, and was named the Atlantic Hockey Association Player of the Week. Favot has a nine-game point-scoring streak and leads the Tigers in scoring with 17 points (4-13-17) in 11 games. On Friday, senior defenseman Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/) became the second Tiger to record 100 career points since moving to Division I in 2005. Freshman Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) broke a 2-2 tie, scoring a power-play goal with 12:26 left in regulation to lift the Tigers to a 3-2 win on Saturday. 

RIT has outscored its foes 26-7 over the six-game winning streak, and is tied for first place in the AHA standings with 12 points.  RIT is 4-0 at home this season, outscoring its opponents, 21-4.

Sacred Heart (3-4-2, 2-2-1 AHA) comes into this weekend's contests after going 0-1-1 at Bentley last weekend. The Pioneers lost 6-3 on Friday, and earned a 1-1 tie on Saturday. These will be games four and five of a nine-game road trip for the Pioneers that started in Nov. 7 and ends on Dec. 13. Senior Dave Jarman leads the squad with 12 points on four goals and eight assists. He is just three points shy of 100 for his career. Fellow senior Nick Johnson leads the squad with seven goals in nine games. Freshman Steven Legatto and junior Olivier St. Onge have split time in net this season. Legatto has two victories, while St. Onge has a 3.35 goals against average.

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 5-3-1. Sacred Heart went 2-1-1 against RIT last season. On Feb. 6, Sacred Heart snapped RIT's Division I team record 11-game winning streak at last season, 5-3 at Ritter Arena. RIT rebounded to win 6-4 the following night. The two teams also met at Sacred Heart in Oct. 24-25, 2008. The two teams tied 3-3 on Oct. 24, while Sacred Heart pulled out a 4-2 win the following evening.

The two teams will meet at Sacred Heart to conclude the season series on Feb. 5-6, 2010.

Tickets are available for this weekend's games at the Gordon Field House and Activities Center Box Office or by phone at (585) 475-4121. Fans can also purchase tickets via ticketmaster.com. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for RIT faculty, staff and alumni and $5 for students with ID. Fans can also buy special reserved seats in Section 100 or 101 for $12 (adults), $10 (faculty/staff/alumni) or $7 (students). Buying a reserved section ticket will guarantee you a seat for the game.

Both games will be aired live on Time Warner Cable Sports channel 26, with Gene Battaglia and John Ditullio bringing you the action.

Come out and support the Tigers in their quest for an Atlantic Hockey Association Championship.