Men's Hockey | 10/27/2010 10:02:56 AM

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's hockey team plays its first Atlantic Hockey Association and opening game at Ritter Arena on Friday, Oct. 29 against the Robert Morris Colonials at 7:05 p.m. The following evening, RIT travels to No. 14 Cornell to play the Big Red at Lynah Rink at 7 p.m.

Park Point and the B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences are sponsoring Friday's contest.

RIT (0-4-1) is looking for its first win of the 2010-11 season after suffering a pair of losses last weekend, 4-1 at Rensselaer, and 7-2 at Union. Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) scored a pair of power-play goals on Saturday, and leads the squad with five goals and six points in five games. Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) has a goal and five assists. The Tigers were 15-2-0 at Ritter Arena last season, outscoring its foes 73-30.

Robert Morris (4-0-0, 3-0-0 AHA) returns to action after a weekend off. They are currently receiving votes in the current USCHO.com poll and are just outside the top-20. Last time out, the Colonials defeated Air Force, 3-2 at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Nathan Longpre scored the game-winning goal with 2:21 left in regulation. Defenseman Denny Urban leads the team in scoring with six points on a goal and five assists. Longpre, Ron Cramer, and Chris Kushneriuk are right behind with five points. In goal, Brooks Ostergard has appeared in all four games, with a 2.25 goals against average, and .927 save percentage.

RIT is 0-1-1 all-time against Robert Morris, and 1-2-0 versus RIT lost and tied at Robert Morris during the Tigers inaugural Division I season in 2005-06.

The two teams will meet twice more in 2010-11, on Dec. 30 at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, and Feb. 18, 2011 at Robert Morris.

Cornell, ranked 14th in the USCHO.com Division I poll, opens its 2010-11 season on Friday against New Hampshire. The Wildcats ended Cornell's run in the NCAA East Regional last season, 6-2. RIT defeated New Hampshire the following evening by the same score to advance to the Frozen Four. Cornell finished the 2009-10 season with a 21-9-4 mark, and have four players who were drafted by NHL teams. Joe Devin and Patrick Kennedy return after scoring 22 and 21 points respectively, last season.

RIT is 1-2-0 all-time versus Cornell. The Tigers last played Cornell on Oct. 27, 2007, defeating the Big Red, 4-1 in front of 5,142 fans at Blue Cross Arena. RIT is 0-2 at Lynah Rink.

Tickets are available for Friday's game 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 for $12 (adults), $9 (faculty/staff/alumni) or $6 (students). Buying a reserved section ticket will guarantee you a seat for the game.

Friday's game will be aired live on Time Warner Cable Sports channel 26 or 1026 for high definition subscribers, 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.