Men's Hockey | 3/6/2019 3:34:00 PM

ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team begins the 2019 Atlantic Hockey Postseason Tourmament by traveling to Sacred Heart University in a best-of-three quarterfinal round series on Wednesday, March 13, Thursday, March 14, and if necessary, Friday, March 15. All three contests from Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn. will begin at 7:05 p.m.
 
RIT is the No. 5 seed in the 2019 Atlantic Hockey Tournament, while Sacred Heart is the No. 4 seed. The winner of this quarterfinal series will advance to the Atlantic Hockey Semifinal, which will take place on Friday, March 22 from Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo. The 2019 AHA Championship is Saturday, March 23, also at Harborcenter.
 
The Tigers (15-15-4, 13-11-4 AHA) were last in action on March 2, falling to Canisius in the regular season finale, 2-1. RIT finished the season with 30 points in Atlantic Hockey play and earned a first round bye for the first time since the 2015-16 season. RIT was most recently the No. 5 seed in 2015-16 and would win the league championship. RIT has been tied or involved in a one-goal game at some point in the third period in a remarkable 20 of the last 21 games against AHA opponents this season.
 
Senior co-captain Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) leads the Tigers in scoring with 34 points on 10 goals and 24 assists in 34 games, while junior defenseman Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings) has 28 points on six goals and 22 assists. Senior co-captain Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) leads the team with 17 goals this season and enters the weekend with a Division I team record 69 for his career. Classmate Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) is expecting to rejoin the lineup after missing the last 10 games. He has 20 points in 24 games this season and 104 in his RIT career. In net, sophomore Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) has appeared in 30 games and is 12-14-4 with a 2.58 goals against average and a .911 save percentage.
 
Sacred Heart (15-15-4, 14-11-3 AHA) was last in action on March 2, falling to American International in the regular season finale, 4-1. The Pioneers ended the regular season on a roll, going 10-3-2 over their last 15 games. Austin Magera leads the Pioneers in scoring with 13 goals and 25 points, while Marc Johnstone has a team-best 16 assists. Eleven different Pioneers have at least 14 points on the season. In net, Josh Benson is 12-7-2 with a 2.37 goals against average and a .904 save percentage.
 
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 25-12-2. Sacred Heart won three of four regular season meetings this season. On Dec. 7, the Pioneers won 4-3 in overtime and took the second matchup, 6-4 from the Polisseni Center. Drackett made 39 saves in a 2-0 win for RIT over Sacred Heart from Webster Bank Arena on Feb. 15. Magera scored late in overtime to lift Sacred Heart to a 4-3 win the next day.
 
Overall, the Tigers are 30-17 in the postseason at the Division I level, while appearing in their 12th Atlantic Hockey Tournament. RIT has won three Atlantic Hockey Championships, played in five title games, and made seven semifinal appearances. The Tigers are going for their third Atlantic Hockey Championship in the last five years.
 
This is a rematch of the 2018 Atlantic Hockey First Round series in which Sacred Heart won in three hard-fought games. The Tigers took the opener, 5-4 in overtime, while Sacred Heart won game two, 4-3 in triple overtime and took the decisive third game, 2-0. RIT defeated Sacred Heart by a score of 6-1 in the 2010 AHA Championship game.
 
Video for all three quarterfinal games are available online. In addition, each game 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 Wednesday, Thursday and if necessary, Friday.