ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT men's hockey team hosts New Hampshire for a two-game set this Friday (7:05 p.m.) and Saturday (5:05 p.m.) at the Gene Polisseni Center.
Following a weekend off, the Tigers are back for the first time since a two-game Atlantic Hockey split with visiting Mercyhurst on Nov. 10-11 ended a five-game winning streak, while the Wildcats swept two games at home versus Northeastern last Friday (4-2) and Saturday (4-0).
FOLLOW LIVE
Watch: FloHockey.tv/events
Watch: New England Sports Network (NESN)
PxP/Color: Gene Battaglia, John DiTullio
Local Audio: WITR 89.7 FM or FOX Sports 1280 AM
Web Audio:
witr.rit.edu or
foxsports1280.iheart.com
PxP/Color: Ed Trefzger, Scott Biggar, Matt Campbell
Live Stats:
ritathletics.com/sidearmstats/mhockey
Twitter: @RITMHKY
TIGER TRACKS
- RIT remained at No. 20 in the USCHO.com national rankings for the third-straight weeks and received votes in the USA Hockey poll for the fourth week in a row. The Wildcats entered the week No. 10 in USA Hockey and No. 12 on the USCHO.com list.
- RIT earned a 5-2 win over Mercyhurst, before falling, 2-0, the following night two weeks ago. Five Tigers scored a goal in the opener, including graduate student forward Elijah Gonsalves, whose goal during a decisive four-goal, second-period run proved to be the game winner. He also moved into a tie for 25th in program history (D1-era) with his 73rd career point. RIT out-shot the Lakers, 51-14, in the rematch, but fell behind on a goal with 7:45 left in the first and conceded a power play goal with 12:27 left in regulation in the setback.
- Junior goaltender Tommy Scarfone notched 22 saves in Friday's winning effort to move into fifth place in program history with his 37th career victory before totaling 12 saves the following night to move into fourth with 1,733 career saves.
QUICK HITS
- RIT leads Atlantic Hockey with 3.20 goals per game and in scoring margin at +0.88, while sitting second in scoring defense at 2.40 goals per game. Nationally, the Tigers entered the week 23rd in scoring offense and 14th in both scoring margin and scoring defense.
- Junior forward Carter Wilkie entered the week ranked seventh nationally with 144 faceoff wins. The Tigers' leading scorer with 10 points on five goals and five assists, Wilkie was held without a point in both Mercyhurst games to mark only the fifth time the last two seasons (12th time in his career) he was held scoreless in back-to-back games.
- Scarfone entered the week ranked sixth nationally with a .930 save percentage and 12th with a 2.11 goals against average.
- Fifth-year defenseman Gianfranco Cassaro has four goals this season, and is tied for third nationally with three game-winning tallies.
- RIT is nationally ranked for the second-consecutive season. The Tigers reached as high as No. 18 in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey polls last year after not being ranked in either since 2016 and 2010, respectively. This weekend's New Hampshire series also marks the second-straight season a nationally-ranked Tiger team will host nationally-ranked opponent. No. 20/20 RIT hosted No. 5/5 Penn State on Dec. 30 last year in the first game played at the Gene Polisseni Center between two ranked teams.
- RIT takes on New Hampshire this weekend for the first meeting since a 6-2 win over the Wildcats in the 2010 NCAA Tournament East Region Final. The Tigers broke a 1-1 tie with four-straight goals, including three during a 1:34 span of the second period, to punch their ticket to the Frozen Four in only their fifth season as a Division-I program. Goaltender Jared Demichiel was named East Region Most Outstanding Player honors after totaling 24 saves in the win over the Wildcats following a career-high 39-save effort in the 2-1 first-round upset of top-seeded Denver.
- New Hampshire is 3-1-1 in five games against nationally-ranked opponents this season, including a 6-4 win over then No. 1 Boston University (Oct. 13) followed by a split (L, 5-2, W, 5-4 OT) with No. 4/defending national champion Quinnipiac (Oct. 20-21). The Wildcats also defeated then No. 17 Northeastern, 4-1 (Oct. 26) and tied then No. 7 Providence, 1-1 (Nov. 3) before falling to the Friars, 2-0, the following night.
FOUR HOME GAMES TO BE CARRIED BY NESN/NESN+
This weekend's doubleheader versus New Hampshire, along with the Bentley doubleheader (Jan. 26-27)) are scheduled to be broadcast on New England Sports Network Plus (NESN+). The network home of New England sports, including the NHL Boston Bruins and MLB Boston Red Sox, NESN is included in multiple local cable providers throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont and certain DirecTV packages. Fans can also stream NESN+ on fuboTV and DirecTV Stream. Check your local listings for replays throughout the weekend.
