Men's Hockey | 11/21/2016 1:58:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team heads out on the road to play a rare mid-week game, making the trip on I-90 to face Atlantic Hockey rival Mercyhurst University at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 23.
RIT (5-7-1, 5-5-0 Atlantic Hockey) enters Wednesday's contest looking to extend its winning streak to three games. Last time out, the Tigers earned their second weekend sweep of the season, defeating league leader Army West Point by scores of 6-2 on Friday and 2-1 in overtime Saturday. On Friday, the line of
Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) (one goal, three assists),
Ryan Kruper (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) (four assists), and
Shawn Cameron (Sherbrooke, Quebec/Cumberland Grads) (two goals, one assist) combined for 11 points, as the Tigers scored five third period goals. On Saturday,
Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) scored a first period goal and
Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) scored 21 seconds into overtime for the win.
Goaltender
Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) was strong in both games for RIT, stopping 32 shots on Friday and 21 on Saturday to pick up the two wins. On Saturday, he broke the RIT Division I team record for most saves in a career. He now has 1,795 career saves, surpassing the previous mark of 1,787, held by Jordan Ruby, who played at the university from 2011-15. Rotolo has played in all 13 games for the Tigers in 2016-17.
Caleb Cameron (Sundridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) leads the Tigers in scoring with 12 points on five goals and seven assists in 12 games. Powell and
Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) are right behind with 11 points apiece. Brown leads the team with seven goals.
Brady Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers) has a team-best 10 assists for RIT. Powell now has three career overtime game-winners for the Tigers.
Mercyhurst (4-7-0, 4-4-0 Atlantic Hockey) comes into Wednesday having split a two-game series at league foe Bentley last weekend. Mercyhurst won 2-1 on Friday, while Bentley returned the favor with a 2-1 victory Saturday. Derek Barach leads the Lakers in scoring with 14 points on two goals and 12 assists. Lester Lancaster is right behind with 11 points, while Jonathan Charbonneau has a team-best seven goals. In goal, Brandon Wildung has appeared in eight games, with a 3-5-0 record, 3.58 goals against average, and an .898 save percentage.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 37-20-6, including a 21-11-3 mark since moving to Division I in 2005. Both teams were also members of the ECAC West in the 1990s. RIT went 4-2-0 against the Lakers last season, including a sweep in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinal series at Mercyhurst. The Tigers have ended Mercyhurst's season in each of the past two years.
RIT and Mercyhurst will also meet to close out the regular season at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Feb. 25, 2017.
Wednesday's game will be available to
view online and will also be on
WITR 89.7 FM, with Scott Biggar and Randy Bloechl on the call.
Live stats will also be available.
Follow the Tigers as they make a push towards their third consecutive Atlantic Hockey Championship.
