Men's Hockey | 2/1/2011 10:11:04 AM

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's hockey team will celebrate “FreezeFest” weekend at the university with a pair of crucial Atlantic Hockey Association contests against Air Force on Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m. The two schools have combined to win the last four AHA Championships. RIT leads the AHA standings with 29 points, four ahead of Niagara, and five in front of Robert Morris.

Park Point is Friday's game sponsor, while Taylor the Builders and Wilshire Restaurant and Catering are sponsoring Saturday's game. Friday is autograph night, as the Tigers will be signing team photos after the game at the RITZ Sports Zone. On Saturday, fans are encouraged to wear white, as the first 1,000 fans will receive white t-shirts. In addition, all fans will receive white pom-poms, as RIT attempts to “White Out Ritter Arena” as part of “FreezeFest” weekend festivities.

RIT (13-8-6, 12-3-5 AHA) enters this weekend's games riding an 11-game unbeaten streak in conference play (7-0-4). They also put their 15-game home-unbeaten streak against AHA foes on the line as well. Last weekend, RIT played just one game, earning a 3-3 tie against Mercyhurst in front of a sellout crowd on Saturday at Ritter Arena. Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) scored two goals, while Adam Hartley (West Vancouver, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) also scored for the Tigers. Goaltender Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) made 44 saves.

Brenner became the third Tiger in the Division I era to score 20 goals in a season. He is tied for fourth nationally with 20 goals. Madolora is the lone unbeaten goaltender in Division I, with an 11-0-5 record. He is second in the nation with a .936 save percentage and sixth with a 1.97 goals against average. The Tigers finished the month of January with a 3-1-4 record. The Tigers set a program record with four ties in January and tie a season record with six ties.

Air Force (11-9-5, 9-5-5 AHA) comes into the weekend riding a four-game unbeaten streak (2-0-2) and are 6-2-3 over the last 11 games. Last weekend, the Falcons took three points from Canisius, as the two teams played to a 4-4 tie on Friday, and Air Force hung on to win 3-2 the following evening. Jacques Lamoureux scored four goals and added an assist in the weekend series. Lamoureux, a finalist for the 2009 Hobey Baker Award, leads the squad in scoring with 28 points (13-15-28) in 25 games. Senior Derrick Burnett leads the team with 16 assists and is second with 22 points. John Kruse and Scott Mathis have 20 points apiece. In net, freshman Jason Torf has played the majority of minutes this season, recording an 8-6-3 record with a 2.95 goals against average and .907 save percentage.

It will be the second and third meetings between the two schools this season. Air Force rallied with three third period goals to defeat RIT, 4-3 in Colorado Springs on Nov. 7. Air Force leads the all-time series bewteen the two schools, 13-12-2. Since the start of the 2005-06 season, RIT is 9-11-2 against Air Force.

Starting on Saturday, and continuing with both the women's and men's hockey games on Feb. 11, the student committee of the RIT United Way Campaign is raffling off three commemorative items to help with this year's fundraising efforts.  The three items are an orange 2010 Frozen Four t-shirt, autographed by members of the 2009-10 team, a white RIT jersey signed by the 2010-11 squad, and a stick autographed by the 2010-11 women's team.  Tickets are $1.00 each, or 20 for $5.00 and can be purchased at all three games at the United Way table inside the arena entrance.  The winners will be announced during the second period of the men's game against Canisius on Feb. 11.  You do not need to be in attendance to win. For more information, contact Lynn Rowoth at either 475-7408 or at lynn.rowoth@rit.edu.

Tickets are available 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 or 1026 for high definition subscribers, with Gene Battaglia and John DiTullio bringing you the action.

Come on out and support the Tigers in their quest for the 2011 Atlantic Hockey Association title.