Men's Hockey | 1/24/2017 9:22:00 AM

ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team returns home to take on Bentley University for a pair Atlantic Hockey Conference games on Friday, Jan. 27 and Saturday, Jan. 28 from the Gene Polisseni Center. Game times for both contests are at 7:05 p.m.
 
Tickets for both games are available at the Gene Polisseni Center and Gordon Field House Box Offices, or by calling (585) 475-4121 or by visiting www.rithockey.com. Saturday, all RIT students will receive free admission (One ticket per valid student ID) courtesy of Campus Life and Residence Life. Students who are season ticket holders will receive a free food voucher. In addition, Saturday is Dining Services Night sponsored by Coca-Cola, which features various giveaways, prizes, and sampling stations.
 
The two-time defending Atlantic Hockey Champion Tigers play six of their final nine regular season contests against league foes starting this weekend. RIT (10-14-1, 10-9-0 Atlantic Hockey) enters the weekend fifth in the league standings with 16 points, while Bentley (7-12-5, 6-8-4 Atlantic Hockey) is ninth in Atlantic Hockey with 16 points.
 
Last weekend, RIT dropped both ends of a home-and-home series to Canisius, falling 3-1 on Friday and 6-1 Saturday. Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) scored RIT's goal on Friday, while Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) tallied on Saturday.
 
Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) leads the Tigers in scoring with 13 goals and 22 points, while Powell is right behind with 11 goals and 18 points. Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings) is among the Atlantic Hockey leaders in scoring by a freshman, with 16 points. Twelve different players have at least a dozen points. In net, Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) has played in 24 games this season and has a 2.69 goals against average and an .896 save percentage.
 
Bentley is 3-2-1 in its last six games, all in league play. Last weekend, the Falcons split a home-and-home series against Sacred Heart, winning 3-2 on the road Friday, while dropping a 5-4 decision on home ice Saturday. Kyle Schmidt leads the Falcons in scoring with 14 goals and 24 points, while Max French is right behind with 23 points on 10 goals and 13 assists. He has 127 career points. Jayson Argue has played the majority of minutes in net for Bentley, with a 6-11-4 record, 3.11 goals against average and a .907 save percentage.
 
This weekend marks the third and fourth meetings between the two schools this season. On Oct. 28-29, the Tigers won the first two meetings at Bentley by scores of 4-1 and 6-3. Brown had three goals and two assists in the weekend series, including a career-high four-point effort in the 6-3 win. RIT has won the last four meetings between the two schools and is 21-11-2 all-time against the Falcons.
 
Both games will be aired live on Time Warner Cable Sports 26 in Rochester, with Gene Battaglia and John DiTullio on the call from the Polisseni Center. The new pregame show with host Kevin Roche airs at 6:30 p.m. In addition, both contests will be broadcast over the airwaves on WITR 89.7 FM and witr.rit.edu, while streaming video and live stats will available.
 
Come out and support the Tigers as they attempt to win their third straight Atlantic Hockey Championship.