Men's Hockey | 2/4/2010 11:13:57 AM

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's hockey team travels east to play a pair of crucial Atlantic Hockey Association contests at Sacred Heart University, the hottest team in Division I, this weekend.  Friday's contest begins at 7:05 p.m., while  Saturday's game gets underway at 4:05 p.m.  RIT leads the AHA standings with 31 points, while Sacred Heart is in fourth, six points back.

Last weekend, the Tigers split a pair of games at home against Bentley, winning 4-1 on Friday, then falling 5-4 on Saturday on "Make the Rink Pink" night.  Saturday's loss snapped a nine-game home winning streak against AHA foes.  Chris Tanev (Toronto, Ontario/) was named the AHA Rookie of the Week after recording three points in the two-game series.  Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/) scored two goals and added an assist on Saturday.  RIT (15-10-1, 15-4-1 AHA) moved into sole possession of first place in the AHA standings with 31 points, one ahead of Air Force, and one ahead of Mercyhurst.  RIT has four games in hand on Air Force, and two in hand on third place Mercyhurst.

Junior forward Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/) leads the Tigers in scoring with 25 points (6-19-25) in 25 games.  Dan Ringwald (Oakville, Ontario/) and Burt are right behind with 21 points.  Burt leads RIT with 11 goals.  Tyler Mazzei (Kelowna, British Columbia/) is riding a six-game point scoring streak.  He has eight points (2-6-8) in those six contests.  The Tigers have 10 players with at least 10 points.

Sacred Heart (13-9-4, 11-6-3 AHA) is the hottest team in all of Division I, riding a 12-game winning streak (10-0-2). During that time, Sacred Heart has outscored its foes, 52-24. The Pioneers swept Connecticut by scores of 3-2 and 4-3 last weekend. Nick Johnson scored two goals and added an assist in the weekend sweep. Johnson has team-best totals of 21 goals and 36 points, eight power-play goals, and four-game winning goals. In AHA play, Johnson has 14 goals and 14 assists for 28 points in 20 games. Dave Jarman leads the squad with 27 assists and 36 points as well. In net, freshman Steven Legatto has emerged as the starting goaltender, and has played very well, posting a 12-6-3 record to go along with a 2.93 goals against average and .913 save percentage. Legatto has started 16 consecutive games for the Pioneers. He has been in net during the entire 12-game unbeaten streak, and was named the AHA Goaltender of the Month for January.

This weekend's meetings will be the third and fourth between the two schools this season. On Nov. 20-21, RIT swept the Pioneers by scores of 3-2 and 5-3. In the first contest, Favot broke a 2-2 with a late power-play goal. Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) broke a 3-3 tie, scoring with 3:37 left, and Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) picked up his first collegiate win in the second game. RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 7-3-1.

Last season, Sacred Heart traveled to RIT and broke the Tigers team-record 11-game winning streak on Feb. 6, 2009.  The Pioneers were the only AHA team to have a winning record against RIT last season, with a 2-1-1 mark.