ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT men's hockey team heads to Notre Dame for a pair of games on Thursday and Friday. The Tigers defeated St. Lawrence, 2-1, on Saturday to win its annual Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend game while the Irish picked up road wins at Michigan Tech, 2-1 (OT) on Friday and Northern Michigan, 5-2, on Saturday. 

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TIGER TRACKS
Senior forward Will Calverley scored the third-period game-winning goal off a feed from senior forward Kobe Walker to lead the Tigers to a 2-1 victory over St. Lawrence in the annual Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend game at Blue Cross Arena, Saturday. The Saints scored the lone goal of the first period before senior forward Jake Joffe finished a rush to knot the game with 9:23 left in the second. The Tigers took the lead with 14:25 left in the third. The Saints attempted to start a clear from behind their own goal, but Calverley tipped the outlet pass that found Walker alone at the top of the slot. Walker slid a quick pass back to Calverley for a one-timer inside the right post for what proved to be the deciding tally. Junior goaltender Kolby Matthews totaled 32 saves, including three in the final minute with St. Lawrence skating 6-on-5, while senior defenseman Dan Willett blocked a season-high seven shots. 

WET CLEAN-UP ON AISLE THREE
RIT's home ice at the Gene Polisseni Center has been unavailable since last Friday after a faulty compressor caused an over-night ammonia leak. The Tigers have been skating at the Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester in the interim while repairs are being made and the GPC ice is restored. 

WHERE THERE IS A WILL...
Senior forward Will Calverley has scored a goal in three-straight games, including the third-period game-winner in Saturday's 2-1 victory over St. Lawrence. Picking up where he left off last year after being named only the fourth All-American in Division I program history (AHCA Second-Team), the Atlantic Hockey-West Co-Player of the Year and Best Defensive Forward finished the season ranked fourth in the nation and first in Atlantic Hockey with 1.39 points per game while tying for first in the league with 25 points and second with 12 goals. Voted a preseason All-Atlantic Hockey pick, Calverley currently has 67 career points on 35 goals and 32 assists in 90 career appearances.

POLL WATCHING
Notre Dame entered the week ranked No. 12 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national poll and No. 13 in the USCHO.com poll while RIT received one vote in the USCHO.com poll.

DOWN FOR WHATEVER
The RIT penalty kill went 2-for-2 in Saturday's victory over St. Lawrence to improve to 15-for-15 this season. The Tigers also killed off a season-high six extra-man opportunities in the 4-3 win at Army (Oct. 8). 

EXTRA SMALL
However, RIT also finished 0-for-3 on the power play versus the Saints to remain without a power-play goal in 16 total chances so far this season.

NICE BARN
RIT is making its first trip back to Notre Dame's Compton Family Ice Arena since the 2015 NCAA Tournament. The Tigers upset top-overall seeded Minnesota State, 2-1 in the first round of the Midwest Regional before falling to Nebraska-Omaha, 4-0, in the second round. 

TIGERS VS. THE IRISH
RIT is facing Notre Dame for the first time since playing in back-to-back seasons in 1988-89 and 1989-90. The Tigers won 8-3 and lost 3-2 on Oct. 28-29, 1988 and lost 6-5 and won 7-3 on Oct.  26-27, 1989. 

KOL-BE GOOD
Junior Kolby Matthews was named the Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week (Oct. 11) following his two starts at Army. He made 25 saves in Friday's 4-3 win before totaling a career-high 40 saves to preserve Saturday's 2-2 tie. Matthews stopped all 14 shots he faced in the third period of Saturday's game to force OT on his way to the highest save total by a Tiger since Logan Drackett stopped 41 shots in a 4-1 victory at Robert Morris (Feb. 8, 2020) two seasons ago. He also eclipsed the 31 saves he made in a 2-1 victory over visiting Mercyhurst last winter (Feb. 5).

NON-CONFERENCE, NO PROBLEM
RIT is 7-7-1 in non-conference games over the last three seasons. The 2019-20 Tigers compiled the highest non-league win total in the Division I era with a 4-4-0 record before finishing 2-2-1 in five non-conference games last season.

DAN THE MAN
Senior defenseman Dan Willett is back after garnering First-Team Atlantic Hockey-West All-Conference honors last season. He led RIT and tied for 12th in Atlantic Hockey with 30 blocked shots and also tied for first for RIT with 14 assists and was fourth with 18 points. The 2021-22 Preseason All-Atlantic Hockey honoree leads all Tiger returners with 61 career assists while ranking second with 70 career points over 132 games played the last five seasons.

START THE CAR(TER)
Freshman forward Carter Wilkie was named the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week (Oct. 11). He scored his first collegiate goal on a left-wing blast to put RIT on the board in Friday's 4-3 win at Army before logging his first assist in a Tiger sweater during Saturday's 2-2 tie. He also totaled 21 face-off wins, including 12 in Saturday's game – one which went directly back to freshman forward Grady Hobbs for a one-timer from the top of the face-off circle to put RIT up 2-0 in the first period.

THE PIPES ARE CALLIN'
RIT's game with Colgate on October 2nd marked the first season-opener in four years a goaltender not named Logan Drackett got the start. Drackett rewrote much of the Tiger record book prior to graduation last spring, finishing as the program's Division I-era career leader with 99 appearances, 98 starts, 2,468 saves and 42 victories. 

DANDY ANDY
Junior forward Andrew Rinaldi scored RIT's first goal of the 2021-22 campaign in the opener versus Colgate and added two more, including the short-handed game-winner, the following game at Army. After finishing scoreless in 11 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, Rinaldi looks to be back to his freshman year form when he finished third on the team with 10 goals. 

GREEN EGGS AND HAMACHER
Senior forward Jake Hamacher entered the season as the top returning scorer in Atlantic Hockey with 85 career points. He also led all Tigers 34 career goals, while his 51 assists only rank behind Willett. He tied for the 2020-21 team lead with 14 assists while finishing third with 21 points and seven goals. He and Willett have also played a team-best 132 games over the last five seasons.

BRUCE ALMIGHTY
Senior forward Nick Bruce was the Tigers' fifth-leading scorer during the 2020-21 season, tying for third with 12 assists with four goals for 16 points. Appearing in 18 games during his fourth season in an RIT sweater, the forward  has played 83 career games totaling 41 career points on 10 goals and 31 assists. He is also one of four Tigers who returned for a fifth year with the program, joining Willett, Hamacher and senior goalie Ian Andriano in using the additional year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

SCOUTING THE FIGHTIN' IRISH
Notre Dame entered the week ranked No. 12 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine national poll and No. 13 in the USCHO.com poll following a 2-1 (OT) win at Michigan Tech last Friday and a 5-2 win at Northern Michigan the following day. Senior forward Cam Burke scored both Irish goals on Friday, including the game-winner with 5.3 seconds left in overtime. Saturday saw Notre Dame jump out to a 4-0 lead early in the second period, including two goals by freshman forward Justin Janike, en route to the win. Junior goaltender Ryan Bischel made 26 stops in Friday's win while graduate student Matthew Galajda totaled 29 saves on Saturday. The Irish have killed off all 17 penalties they have committed this season so far.

POINTS…
RIT finished the 2020-21 season 13th nationally with 3.40 goals per game, while the Tiger power ranked 11th with a 23.3 percent conversion rate. Eight of the team's top-10 scorers return, led by senior forward Will Calverley (12G, 13A), junior forward Elijah Gonsalves (9G, 13) and senior forward Jake Hamacher (7G, 14A) are back for the 2021-22 campaign. Hamacher (34G, 51A, 85P), Calverley (32G, 32A, 64P) and senior defenseman Dan Willett (9G, 61A, 70P) are also the top-three returning career scorers in all of Atlantic Hockey. 

…AND COUNTER POINTS
RIT finished last season ranked in the bottom third of the nation in scoring defense (38th, 3.50 goals per game allowed) and in the middle of the pack in penalty killing (24th, 80.8 percent). However, all but one member (senior Regan Seiferling) of last year's youthful blueline group returns this season with another year of experience under their sweaters. 

FAMILIAR FACE
RIT welcomed former Tigers standout Shane Madolora back to the program this season as Volunteer Goalie Coach. The 2012 graduate remains the Division I-era program leader with a .932 save percentage, which is tied for 10th in NCAA history. He is also tops with a 1.97 goals against average, which remains tied for 24th in the NCAA record book. Madolora established single-season program records as a junior which still stand, leading the nation with a .935 save percentage to go along with a stingy 1.93. GAA on his way to Inside College Hockey Second-Team All-America honors and Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Year recognition. The following year, he tied his own record with a 1.93 GAA to go along with a .931 save percentage while tying for first nationally with a program-record seven shutouts. Madolora remains first in Tiger history (and tied for 20th in NCAA history) with 13 career shutouts, as well as fourth with 1,727 saves, fifth with 36 wins, and tied for fifth with 65 appearances. His 18-9-5 record during the 2011-12 campaign tied for the second-highest single-season win total by a Tiger, completing his RIT career with a 36-14-2 record. 

OH, CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
Senior forward Will Calverley and senior defenseman Dan Willett were voted captains for the 2021-22 season, while senior forward Nick Bruce, Andrew Petrucci and Kobe Walker were named assistant captains. Calverley and Willett both served as assistant captains last season. 

TIGERS IN THE NHL
Former RIT standout defenseman Chris Tanev enters his 13th season in the NHL, spending the last 11 with the Vancouver Canucks before signing a free agent contract with the Calgary Flames prior to the 2020-21 season. Voted the 2010 AHA Rookie of the Year, Tanev made his NHL debut on Jan. 18, 2011, becoming the first RIT player to appear in an NHL contest. Entering the 2021-22 season, he has played in 570 NHL games with 24 goals and 106 assists for 130 career points. He won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships. Tanev tallied 28 points (10-18-28) and was plus-33 in 41 games for RIT in 2009-10. Tanev and another former Tiger, Steve Pinizzotto (2005-07), were teammates with Vancouver in 2012-13. Pinizzotto tallied 57 points (20-37-57) in 54 career games for the Tigers and appeared in 36 NHL games with two goals and four assists. 

RIT's NCAA DIVISION II/III HISTORY
RIT made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1983. RIT won the 1983 National Championship at the Division II level, and 1985 National Championship at the Division III level. RIT earned National Runner-Up honors in 1989, 1996 and 2001. The Tigers made the National Final Four in 1984, 1986, 1999, and 2010. Overall, RIT was 26-15-4 in NCAA contests at the DII/III level and is 3-2 in Division I. RIT made the NCAA Tournament in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,  2010, 2015, and 2016.

FINAL FOUR FRENZY
RIT was the first team in NCAA history to reach the Frozen Four in its first postseason appearance back in 2010. They were also the first team from the AHA to reach the Frozen Four. RIT was one win away from duplicating that feat in 2014-15.