Men's Hockey | 12/2/2009 10:38:28 AM
ROCHESTER, NY - The red-hot RIT men's hockey team plays its final road contests of the 2009 calendar year, traveling to Worcester, Mass. to face the Holy Cross Crusaders on Friday, Dec. 4 and Saturday, Dec. 5 at 7:05 p.m. in a pair of high-flying Atlantic Hockey contests.
RIT (8-5-0, 8-2-0 AHA) is the nation's hottest team, having won eight straight games, all in Atlantic Hockey play. The Tigers, who hold a one-point lead in the Atlantic Hockey standings, will look to expand its lead this weekend. Two weekends ago, the Tigers swept Sacred Heart by scores of 3-2 and 5-3.
Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/), who had missed the previous seven games due to injury, scored a pair of goals in the weekend sweep. Goaltenders
Jared DeMichiel (Avon, CT/) and
Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) each picked wins in net. Madolora's win was the first of his collegiate career. DeMichiel has a 1.32 goals against average and .947 save percentage over his last seven games, all wins.
The Tigers boast the three highest goal-scoring defensemen in the nation, in
Alan Mazur (Burnaby, British Columbia/),
Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/), and
Chris Tanev (Toronto, Ontario/). Mazur has six goals to lead the nation, while Ringwald and Tanev are right behind with five tallies each. Junior forward
Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) leads the team with 18 points (5-13-18).
Holy Cross (4-8-2, 4-5-2 AHA) comes into this weekend's contests after going 1-1-0 last week. The Crusaders blanked Connecticut on Nov. 24, and fell to No. 11 Yale, 7-3 on Saturday. Junior Everett Sheen was named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week on Monday after recording three goals and an assist in the two contests. He leads Holy Cross in scoring with 12 points (7-5-12) in 14 games. Jordan Cyr has 11 points in 10 games. Freshman Thomas Tysowsky has seen the bulk of action in net this season and is 4-6-2 with a 2.38 goals against average, and .906 save percentage. The Crusaders are tied for fifth in the AHA standings with 10 points, six behind RIT.
RIT is 16-6-0 all-time against the Crusaders and 12-1-0 since moving to DI in 2005. Last season, RIT was 6-1-0 against the Holy Cross, outscoring them 37-18 in the seven games. The Tigers defeated Holy Cross in the AHA quarterfinals in both 2008 and 2009. Last season, the Crusaders took game one of the three-game playoff series, but RIT responded to win games two and three, 6-4 and 9-5. The Tigers have won four straight meetings at the Hart Center at Holy Cross over the last two seasons, outscoring the Crusaders 19-4 in those contests, including 6-0 and 3-1 last season.
