Men's Hockey | 2/23/2011 10:19:48 AM
ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's hockey team plays its final two regular season games of the 2010-11 season against Atlantic Hockey Association rival Niagara. The Tigers host Niagara at Ritter Arena on Friday, Feb. 25 at 7:35 p.m. On Saturday, the Tigers travel to Dwyer Arena to complete the regular season against the Purple Eagles at 7:05 p.m.. CBS College Sports will nationally televise Friday's game.
M & E Engineering and Zwiegle's are sponsoring Friday's game. CBS College Sports will broadcast the game to a national audience, with Matt Shepard calling the action, and Dave Starman serving as color-commentator. Shireen Saski will be the on-ice reporter. CBS College Sports is channel 232 on Time Warner Digital Cable in the Rochester area, 613 on DirecTV, and 152 on Dish Network. It is a premium channel on all three carriers. On Time Warner, CBS College Sports is also available in high definition on channel 1027. Please check with your local cable provider for availability.
RIT (16-9-7, 15-4-6 AHA) enters weekend play looking to get back on track after suffering just its second loss of the calendar year last Saturday at Robert Morris, 5-3.
Bryan Potts (Niagara Falls, Ontario/Markham Waxers) recorded a career-high with three points on two goals and an assist, while
Tyler Brenner (Linwood, Ontario/) dished out three assists. RIT had an 11-game unbeaten streak, 15-game unbeaten streak against AHA foes, and eight-game road unbeaten streak snapped. On Friday, RIT puts its 18-game unbeaten streak at Ritter Arena against AHA foes (14-0-4) on the line, dating back to last season.
Goaltender
Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/) suffered his first loss of the season, snapping his 20-game unbeaten streak. Madolora leads the nation with a 1.97 goals against average and .934 save percentage. Brenner has 23 goals, sixth best nationally. He has six points over his last two games. Freshman
Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) is riding a four-game point-scoring streak, and has 15 points (4-11-15) over his last 11 games.
RIT will honor its Class of 2011 before Friday's game. The group consists of Brenner,
Andrew Favot (King City, Ontario/),
Mike Janda (Glen Ellyn, IL/),
Sean Murphy (Owatonna, MN/), and
Jan Ropponen (Espoo, Finland/),
Niagara (17-12-3, 14-10-1 AHA) enters this weekend fifth in the AHA standings with 29 points, and can finish as high as third. Last time out, the Purple Eagles split a weekend series with Canisius, winning 3-0 on the road on Thursday, while losing 6-3 to the Golden Griffins at home on Saturday. Seniors Brian Haczyk and Paul Zanette are first and second nationally, with 27, and 25 goals, respectively. Zanette is second overall with 49 points. In goal, Chris Noonan and Cody Campbell have split time over the last two months. Noonan is 8-3-1 with a 2.91 goals against average and .906 save percentage. Campbell is 3-5-1.
This will be the second and third of three regular season meetings between the two schools this season, who are located just 80 miles apart. On Nov. 19, Niagara's Paul Zanette scored three straight goals to break a 1-1 tie and give the Purple Eagles a 4-1 win over RIT. RIT and Niagara were ECAC West foes in the 1990's when both were Division III teams. The Tigers are 2-7-3 all-time against the Purple Eagles and are 0-5-1 since moving to Division I in 2005. RIT is 0-4-2 all-time at Dwyer Arena and have not defeated the Purple Eagles overall since Feb. 8, 1997.
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.
Saturday's game will be aired live on Time Warner Cable Sports channel 26, with Niagara broadcasters Dave Miller, Andrew Peters, and Wendy Haskell bringing you the action.
