Men's Hockey | 3/16/2009 12:34:21 PM

ROCHESTER, NY -- The RIT men's hockey team has advanced to the Atlantic Hockey Association semifinals for the second straight year and will play the Mercyhurst College Lakers at Blue Cross Arena on Friday, March 20 at 7:35 p.m. If RIT wins, they will play in the Atlantic Hockey Association Championship against Air Force or Bentley on Saturday, March 21 at 7:05 p.m.

The other semifinal will feature top seeded Air Force versus fourth seeded Bentley College at 4:05 pm on Friday, March 20 at the Blue Cross Arena.

Tickets are available for this weekend's games at the Blue Cross Arena box office or ticketmaster.com. The two-day, four-game pass (which includes the Section V Exceptional Senior game on Saturday at 2 p.m.) is $32 for adults and $22 for students.  Single-day passes are $18 and $12.

Friday's contest is a battle of two of the hottest teams in the nation, as No. 2 RIT is 18-3-1 over its last 22 games and No. 3 Mercyhurst is 14-2-1 over the last 17 contests.  In addition, Mercyhurst is the highest scoring team in the country, averaging 3.95 goals per game, while RIT is third, averaging 3.89 goals per contest.

RIT (23-12-2) advanced into this weekend's action after defeating Holy Cross in an intense, three-game quarterfinal round last weekend at Ritter Arena.  RIT dropped game one of the series, 5-3 on Friday, before rebounding to win 6-4 on Saturday.  On Sunday, the Tigers scored a Division I school record nine goals en route to a wild 9-5 win that clinched the series.  All 12 Tiger forwards had at least a point in Sunday's win. 

Senior forward Brennan Sarazin (Nepean, Ontario/Nepean Raiders) (Nepean, Ontario) leads a balanced scoring attack with 40 points on 19 goals and 21 assists.  Freshman Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/Elmira Sugar Kings) (Linwood, Ontario) is second on the squad with 35 points, while junior defenseman Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades) (Oakville, Ontario) leads the squad with 29 assists.  Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/Aurora Tigers) (King City, Ontario) and Matt Crowell (Kelowna, British Columbia/Williams Lake Timberwolves) (Kelowna, British Columbia) each have 31 points.

RIT leads all of Division I with 12 shorthanded goals.  Eight players have at least 20 points, while six Tigers have at least 10 goals.  Goaltenders Jared DeMichiel (Avon, Conn./Chicago Steel) (Avon, CT) and Louis Menard (Chicoutimi, Quebec/Ottawa Senators) (Chicoutimi, Quebec) have 13 and 10 wins, respectively.

Mercyhurst (21-14-3) is one of the hottest teams in Division I, riding a four-game winning streak and have won nine of their last 10 contests.  The Lakers advanced into the AHA semifinals after sweeping No. 6 Army, 6-2 and 5-0 in the quarterfinals last weekend.  Goaltender Ryan Zapolski stopped 55-of-57 shots in the series, while Scott Pitt dished out five assists.  Steve Cameron leads the Lakers with 48 points on 22 goals and 26 assists.  Pitt has a team-best 30 assists and 43 points, while Matt Pierce has 24 goals and 42 points. Zapolski took over as the starting goaltender in late November and is 17-4-3 with a 2.16 goals against average and .935 save percentage.

RIT swept the Lakers by scores of 6-2 and 5-3 at Ritter Arena on Dec. 12-13.  The Tigers lead the all-time series between the two schools, 23-12-4 and are 7-3-1 against Mercyhurst since moving to Division I in 2005.

RIT went 2-0 against Bentley (19-16-2), the No. 4 seed this season, and was 2-2 against top-seed Air Force (25-10-2).  RIT and Air Force shared the 2009 AHA Regular Season title.

The winner of Saturday's game gets an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

Come out and support the Tigers this weekend in their quest for an Atlantic Hockey Championship and berth into the 2009 NCAA Tournament.