ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT men's hockey team travels to Union on Saturday to open the 60th season (18th in D1) in program history. The Tigers return after finishing the 2021-22 season with an 18-16-4 record, including a 12-10-4 Atlantic Hockey mark to earn the fourth seed for the AHA Tournament. RIT won two out of three games to advance past Sacred Heart in the AHA Quarterfinals, before falling to Air Force, 4-3, in its ninth semifinal appearance in program history.

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BIG RED 
Sophomore forward Carter Wilkie was named the Atlantic Hockey Co-Preseason Player of the Year and a member of the Preseason All-Atlantic Hockey Team. Wilkie returns after leading the Tigers with 30 points and 17 assists, while finishing second with 13 goals during his first season in Orange and Black. He also tied for second in the nation with six game-winning goals, and became just the fifth Division I player in over 10 years to notch three overtime game-winning tallies. The 2022 Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year and an AHA All-Rookie Team honoree, Wilkie landed seven conference Rookie of the Week honors a season ago, and was also named the league's Rookie of the Month on three occasions.

TENDER LOVING CARE
Sophomore goaltender Tommy Scarfone joined Wilkie on the AHA All-Rookie Team last winter. He finished fourth in the conference with a 2.46 goals against average as well as a .919 save percentage en route to an 8-9-1 record. Starting the final 11 games of the season, he tied a career high with 39 saves in the Tigers' 1-0 shutout of Sacred Heart in the opening game of the AHA Quarterfinals for his eighth 30-plus save outing of the season. He also logged 33 saves on three other occasions during the run, including the 4-4 tie with AIC (Feb. 5) as well as in the 4-2 win at Niagara (Feb. 18) en route to Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week honors. Scarfone closed the regular season with 33 saves in the Tigers' 1-0 OT setback at Air force (Feb. 26). 

GAME CHANGING VOTE
A proposal was passed last January at the NCAA Convention during the Division III Business meeting which will allow RIT to offer scholarships to its Division I men's and women's hockey student-athletes. Multi-divisional intercollegiate athletic programs like RIT, which sponsors 22 Division III teams along with two Division I hockey teams, were previously not allowed to apply all Division I legislation to its Division I teams, including the inability to award athletic grant-in-aid to its players based on a 2004 bylaw. However, with the vote overwhelmingly passing by a 388-18-39 margin, the Tigers will be on the same footing as the rest of its peers across the country with a full 18 scholarships available to each hockey team. Union, which was previously the only other Division I men's program in the same boat as RIT, will also benefit from the legislation. 

DEARLY DEPARTED
RIT graduated three of last season's top-five scorers, including Will Calverley, Dan Willett and Jake Hamacher. A Hobey Baker nominee and 2021 second-team All-American, Calverley led the Tigers with 15 goals and was second with 27 points en route to his second-straight First-Team All-Atlantic Hockey award. Hamacher was third with 21 points (9 goals, 12 assists) and tied for 10th in D1-era history with 106 points (43 goals, 63 assists). Willett finished second with 13 assists and fifth with 18 points while ranking fourth nationally with 91 blocked shots. Willett and Hamacher also finished first and second in program history with 166 and 165 games played, respectively. 

SKY WALKER
Fifth-year Kobe Walker returns after finishing second for the 2021-22 Tigers with 11 goals, including three power-play tallies, two game-winners and two short-handed scores. In 29 appearances, the top-line right winger's 19 points ranked fourth on the squad, while his eight assists tied for the sixth-highest total on the team. A three-time Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team member, Walker returns with 111 appearances in an RIT sweater along with 56 career points on 28 goals and 28 assists to date.

BERRY GOOD
Fifth-year Spencer Berry is back for his final season after finishing 2021-22 as one of three Tiger defenseman who appeared in all 38 games during the season, finishing second on the team with 52 blocked shots to go along with three assists. A four-time Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team honoree, he returns with 88 games played and 10 career points (all assists).

ANDREW-BE-DO-BE-DOO
Fifth-year Andrew Petrucci played 35 games last season, notching a goal and an assist. The hard-nosed fourth-line centerman has played 104 games during his RIT career, compiling 15 points on eight goals and seven assists. He is also a four-time Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team honoree.

GOING GONZO
Senior Elijah Gonsalves returns with 70 career games and 52 points on 20 goals and 32 assists. The 2019-20 Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Team honoree scored better than 20 points his first two seasons and looks to bounce back after having his season cut short due to injury after 15 appearances last year. Gonsalves is a two-time Atlantic All-Academic Team honoree and was an AHCA All-American Scholar in 2020-21.

MORE IS BETTER
Senior Caleb Moretz has scored 40 points in 89 career appearances the last three seasons, including a goal and five assists playing all 38 games last winter. He was third on the team with 244 face-off wins and second with a 52.7 face-off win percentage. A three-time AHCA All-American Scholar and Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team member, Moretz also finished second among forwards on the team with 24 blocked shots.

WAYNE'S WORLD
Head Coach Wayne Wilson became the 49th NCAA men's hockey coach to hit the 400-win plateau with the 1-0 OT win at Princeton (Nov. 27) last season. Wilson ranks ninth among active coaches with a 409-290-77 record the last 23 seasons - all on the Tiger bench. The only coach in NCAA history to win the Spencer Penrose (D1 National COY, 2001) and the Sid Watson (D3 National COY, 2010), he totaled a 116-31-12 mark in six Division III campaigns (1999-2005) and owns a 293-259-65 record entering his 18th Division-I season. 

GOING DUTCH
RIT is 0-6-1 in seven all-time meetings with Union. The teams haven't met since the Dutchmen earned a 6-1 victory in Rochester during the 2017 season (Oct. 20), while the Tigers lost a 5-2 decision in Schenectady the season before (Oct. 21). The teams skated to a 2-2 tie at Union during the 2006-07 season (Oct. 14). 

WHO'S AFRAID OF A COUPLE EXTRA MINUTES
RIT finished the 2021-22 season with a 6-1-4 record in 11 overtime games, including a 1-0 win over Sacred Heart in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament Semifinal opener. 

START ME UP
RIT was 12-1-1 when scoring first last season and 10-0-1 when holding a lead after two periods. However, the Tigers were 1-15-2 when trailing after 40 minutes of play. 

MAGIC NUMBER
RIT's was 16-4-3 a season ago when holding opponents to three goals or less, including an 14-3-1 mark when holding opponents under three goals. 

ABOUT THE DUTCHMEN
Union returns to action after finishing the 2021-22 season with a 14-19-4 record, including a 9-11-2 ECAC Hockey Mark. The Dutchmen bested Princeton twice, 3-2, 5-1, in the first round of the ECAC Hockey Tournament, before falling twice at Clarkson, 3-2 (OT), 4-3 (OT) in the quarterfinals. Junior forward Liam Robertson is the top returning scorer after finishing fifth with 19 points, including a team-high 13 goals. Junior forward Chaz Smedsrud was sixth with 16 points, including 11 assists. Senior goaltender Connor Murphy started 37 games a season ago, compiling a 2.66 goals against average and a .919 save percentage en route to a 14-18-3 record. 

JUST LEAVE THE RED LIGHT ON NEXT TIME
RIT was credited with the fastest consecutive goals by the same team in over 24 years at the end of its 4-2 win at Niagara (Feb. 18) last season. Carter Wilkie broke a 2-2 tie with 10.4 seconds left in regulation before Will Calverley was credited with a goal with 6.9 on the clock after the Purple Eagles won the ensuing draw directly back into their own empty net. According to the NCAA record book, RIT tied the fourth-fastest pair of goals ever scored by the same team, matching UMass-Lowell's Randy LeBrasseur and Bill Dohaney's feat against Minnesota on Jan. 3, 1987. The Tiger goals were also the quickest since Nebraska-Omaha's Andrew Tortorella and Jason Cupp scored in a three-second span opposite Denver on Nov. 15, 1997. New Hampshire's John Gray scored twice in a three-second span versus Colgate on Feb. 6, 1971 for the fastest consecutive goals scored by the same player, while Colorado College's Tony Frasca and Omer Brandt hold the all-time record with goals in a two-second span against Michigan Tech on Feb. 1, 1962.

NON-CONFERENCE, NO PROBLEM
RIT finished the non-conference portion of the 2021-22 schedule with a 4-4-0 record, tying the highest single-season win total in the Division-I era. It was also the Tigers' third-consecutive season finishing with a .500 record in non-league games after finishing 2-2-1 in 2020-21 and 4-4-0 in 2019-20.

FAMILIAR FACE
Former Tigers standout Shane Madolora is back for his second season with the program 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 20th 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 21st 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
Five players are skating with letters on their sweaters during the 2022-23 season. Fifth-years Kobe Walker and Andrew Petrucci were elevated to co-captains after serving as alternate captains a season ago, while seniors Spencer Berry, Elijah Gonsalves and Caleb Moretz were named alternate captains. 

TIGERS IN THE NHL
Former RIT standout defenseman Chris Tanev enters his 14th season in the NHL, spending his first 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 2022-23 season, he has played in 652 NHL games with 30 goals and 128 assists for 158 career points. He won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships and was named a finalist for the NHL's Masterson Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Tanev tallied 28 points (10-18-28) and was plus-33 in 41 games for RIT in 2009-10. He 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 has made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1983. RIT won the 1983 Division II National Championship before winning the Division III National Championship in 1985. The Tigers also finished as Division III runner-up in 1989, 1996 and 2001 while making semifinal appearances 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 five Division I tournament showings. The Tigers 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 in 2010 and was also the first Atlantic Hockey team to reach the national semifinals. RIT was one win away from duplicating that feat in 2014-15 after upsetting overall top-seed Minnesota State, 1-0, in the Midwest Region Semifinals.