Men's Hockey | 1/17/2018 3:44:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team returns to action on Jan. 19-20 with a pair of home games versus Atlantic Hockey rival Canisius. Both Friday and Saturday's games from the Gene Polisseni Center get underway at 7:05 p.m.
Friday is Tiger Olympics Night, while Saturday is Electronic Vehicle Night. On Friday, there will be free popcorn for all fans in attendance. On Saturday, there will be free shuttles from R or S lot to the arena. 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.rittickets.com.
Just four points separate the top six teams in Atlantic Hockey play, while all 11 teams are separated by just 10 points. Canisius is tied for first in the league standings with 22 points, while RIT is eighth with 15 points. RIT has played the fewest amount of league games this season to date.
RIT (8-11-2, 7-7-1 Atlantic Hockey) is looking to get back in the win column after suffering a 6-3 loss at Mercyhurst Tuesday evening.
Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's),
Alden Dupuis (Edmonton, Alberta/Bonnyville Pontiacs ) and
Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings) scored third period goals for the Tigers. Brubacher also added an assist, giving him 10 points over his last 11 games. Brubacher leads all RIT defensemen with 14 points this season.
Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals), a 2018 Hobey Baker Award candidate (
www.voteforhobey.com), leads the team in scoring with 22 points on eight goals and 14 assists, while
Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) and
Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) are right behind with 19 points. Brown leads the team and is tied for 11th nationally with 13 goals. In net,
Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) leads the team with a 3.03 goals against average and an .890 save percentage.
Canisius (11-9-2, 11-5-0 Atlantic Hockey), the defending Atlantic Hockey Regular Season Champions, earned a home split against American International last weekend, losing 3-0 on Friday, while rebounding to earn a 6-1 win Saturday. Dylan McLaughlin leads all Atlantic Hockey players in scoring with 30 points on 12 goals and 18 assists in 21 games played. Ryan Schmelzer has 10 goals and 23 points, while Nick Hutchison has a team-best 13 goals. In net, Daniel Urbani has played in 17 games and is 9-7-1 with a 2.69 goals against average and a .908 save percentage.
This weekend marks the only two regular season meetings between the two schools. RIT leads the all-time series, 60-23-2, including a 21-14-1 edge since the Tigers moved to Division I in 2005.
Both games will air on CW Rochester (Digital - 13.2, DirecTV – 14 and Spectrum – 16) and stream live on
RIT Sports Zone with Gene Battaglia and John DiTullio on the call from the Polisseni Center. The 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 Fox Sports 1280 AM, while
live stats will also be available. Friday's game will air on CW Rochester at 10 p.m.
Come out and pack the Gene Polisseni Center this weekend as the Tigers embark on their quest towards the postseason.
