Men's Hockey | 1/21/2019 8:24:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team returns home to take on Atlantic Hockey rival Army West Point for a pair of games this weekend from the Gene Polisseni Center. Friday's game begins at 7:05 p.m., while Saturday's contest starts at 5:05 p.m.
Tickets for both games are available at the Gene Polisseni Center Box Office or online at
www.rittickets.com. Friday is Star Wars Night, while Saturday is the third free ticket giveaway of the season for all RIT students (first-come, first-served, one ticket per valid ID and must be picked up at the GPC Box Office).
RIT (10-9-3, 8-7-3 AHA) recorded one point last weekend in a two-game series at Bentley University. The Tigers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie Bentley, 2-2 on Friday night before falling, 5-2 Saturday.
Kobe Walker (Lloydminster, Alberta/Lloydminster Bobcats) and
Jake Hamacher (Corona, CA/Dubuque Fighting Saints) scored for RIT on Friday, while
Will Calverley (Scarborough, Ontario/Chilliwack Chiefs) and
Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings) scored Saturday. Goaltender
Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) stopped 47 shots in the two games, as RIT had its six-game unbeaten streak snapped on Saturday.
Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) leads the Tigers in scoring with 24 points on eight goals and 16 assists in 22 games, while Brubacher is second on the team in scoring with 18 points.
Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) has a team-best 10 goals and 17 points, while
Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) also has 17 points on seven goals and 10 assists. In net, Drackett has appeared in 21 games and is 9-9-3 with a 2.54 goals against average and a .913 save percentage.
Army West Point enters the weekend with an 8-11-3 overall record and a 7-6-3 mark in conference play. The Black Knights recorded a 5-2 win over Royal Military College of Canada last Saturday. Two of Army's top three scorers are defensemen. Dalton MacAfee leads the Black Knights in scoring with 20 points on four goals and 16 assists. Zach Evancho is right behind with 18 points, while Dominic Franco has a team-best nine goals. Jared Dempsey and Trevin Kozlowski have split time in net. Dempsey is 3-9-2 with a 3.05 goals against average and an .897 save percentage, while Kozlowski is 5-2-1 with a 2.13 goals against average and a .918 save percentage.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 19-3-6. The Tigers are 18-1-4 against the Black Knights over the last 23 meetings, out-scoring them 87-43 over that stretch. RIT and Army West Point last met on Oct. 26-27, 2017 with the Tigers winning both contests at Tate Rink by scores of 5-4 and 3-1.
The Tigers enter the weekend tied for fourth in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 19 points, while Army West Point is right behind in a tie for sixth with 17 points. Five points separates the second from eighth place teams in the league standings.
Both games will air on CW Rochester (Tape delay on Friday at 10 p.m., and Saturday live on Digital - 13.2, DirecTV – 14 and Spectrum – 16) and
stream live with Gene Battaglia and John DiTullio on the call from the Polisseni Center. The pregame show with host Kevin Roche airs Saturday at 4:30 p.m. In addition, both contests will be aired on
WITR 89.7 FM and Fox Sports 1280 with Ed Trefzger and Scott Biggar on the call.
Live stats are also available.
Come out to the Gene Polisseni Center and support the Tigers this weekend.
