Men's Hockey | 1/2/2018 10:16:00 AM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team rings in the 2018 calendar year and starts the second half of the regular season on Friday, Jan. 5 and Saturday, Jan. 6 with two games at Atlantic Hockey rival Niagara University. Both games from Dwyer Arena get underway at 7:05 p.m.
Starting this weekend, all 18 of RIT's remaining regular season games are against league foes. The Tigers return home next weekend, Jan. 12-13 to take on Air Force.
RIT enters the weekend with an 8-7-1 overall record and a 7-3-0 mark in conference play. The Tigers were last in action on Dec. 8-9, splitting a pair of road games at No. 9 Providence College, falling 8-3 before rebounding to win 4-0.
Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) had three goals over the weekend, while
Alden Dupuis (Edmonton, Alberta/Bonnyville Pontiacs ) added two goals and an assist. Goaltender
Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) recorded his first collegiate shutout in the 4-0 win, making 28 saves.
Powell leads the team in scoring with 19 points on seven goals and 12 assists. He has five goals and is plus-8 over his last three games.
Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) has a team-best 11 goals. Brown and
Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) have 17 points apiece, while
Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) is right behind with 16. In net,
Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) is 6-5-1 with a 3.63 goals against average and an .872 save percentage, while Short is 2-2-0 with a 2.77 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. Short has a 1.63 goals against average and a .945 save percentage over his last three starts.
RIT was scheduled to be in action last weekend, Dec. 29-30 at Mercyhurst University, but after the games were moved back a day, they were ultimately postponed due to the seven feet of snow Erie, Pa. received over the previous week. The two games will be made up later in the season. It was RIT's first weather related postponement since Jan. 23, 2015 at Sacred Heart. That game was played the following day.
Niagara is 9-9-1 overall and 8-4-1 in Atlantic Hockey play. The Purple Eagles dropped a pair of games at No. 9 Ohio State last weekend on the road by scores of 3-2 Friday and 4-1 Saturday. Six Purple Eagles have at least 10 points. Derian Plouffe leads the team in scoring with 21 points on 11 goals and 10 assists, while defenseman Noah Delmas is right behind with 20 points on a goal and 19 assists. Tanner Lomsnes has a team-best 12 goals. In net, Brian Wilson is 7-8-1 with a 2.78 goals against average and a .901 save percentage.
Niagara leads the all-time series between the two schools, 17-10-2, including a 15-8-10 edge since RIT moved to Division I in 2005. Both teams were also rivals in the ECAC West at the Division III level from 1996-1998. RIT won three of five meetings between the two schools last season, although Niagara ended the Tigers season in the Atlantic Hockey First Round best-of-three series, winning in three games. RIT out-scored Niagara, 23-12 in the five meetings.
Live video will be available for both contests. In addition, both games will be broadcast on
WITR 89.7 FM and Fox Sports 1280 with Scott Biggar and Ed Trefzger on the call from Dwyer Arena.
Live stats will also be available for each game.
