ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The No. 19/19 RIT men's hockey team closes the semester with an Atlantic Hockey doubleheader at RV/RV AIC on Friday (5:05 p.m.) and Saturday (1:05 p.m.).
Winners of eight of their last 10 games, the Tigers swept visiting Robert Morris, 4-1 and 6-2, last weekend while the Yellow Jackets saw a five-game winning-streak come to an end last Friday in a 5-4 setback to Sacred Heart before bouncing back for a 3-2 win the following night in their third-consecutive home game.
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TIGER TRACKS
- RIT remained No. 19 in both this week's USCHO.com and USA Hockey national polls, marking the fifth-straight week the Tigers have been nationally ranked. The Tigers were ranked in both polls for the second-straight season after climbing as high as No. 18 in both rankings a year ago.
- RIT has won 10 of its first 14 games for the second-time in program history (D1-era), one-shy of the 11-3-0 record it started with a year ago en route to its winningest fall semester (12-4-0) ever.
- Junior forward Carter Wilkie was named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Week for the first time this season following the Tigers' Robert Morris sweep. He started with a goal and won 16-of-21 faceoffs in Friday's win before scoring the first goal and adding an assist during a decisive 3-0 second-period run while winning 14-of-24 draws in Saturday's rematch.
- Wilkie entered the week ranked fifth nationally with 195 faceoff wins, only trailing four players who have played at least two more games than RIT.
- Fifth-year defenseman Gianfranco Cassaro scored what proved to be his fifth game-winning goal of the season in last Friday's win over Robert Morris – tied for first nationally with Boston College's Cutter Gautheir, who has played two more games. Cassaro is also tied for third among defenseman nationally with seven goals entering the week.
- RIT took a season-high 54 shots in last Friday's victory, including a single-period season-high 25 shots in the first. The Tigers also held the Colonials to 16 shots – second-lowest to the 14 Mercyhurst took on Nov. 11 in a 2-0 win over RIT this season. The next night, RIT scored a season-high six goals and totaled a season-high 18 points.
- Junior defenseman Dimitri Mikrogiannakis and sophomore forward Tyler Mahan each scored career-highs with three assists apiece on Saturday, while sophomore forward Philippe Jacques added his first two goals of the season. Graduate student transfer goaltender Luke Lush made 32 saves for his first victory in a Tiger sweater and eighth career game with at least 30 saves.
- RIT entered the week 12th nationally and first in Atlantic Hockey with 3.57 goals per game, including 3.80 goals during its current 8-2-0 run. Also ranked 15th in the country in scoring defense (2.50 gpg), the Tigers' 1.07 scoring margin is 10th nationally and first in the AHA.
- Junior goaltender Tommy Scarfone is tied for sixth nationally with a 9-3-0 record, 13th with a .924 save percentage, and 20th with a 2.32 goals against average after a 15-save showing last Friday for his 39th career victory. One win short of becoming only the fourth Tiger with 40 career wins (D1 era), he is one victory behind Mike Rotolo '17 and two behind Jared DeMichiel '10 in the record books.
- First-year forward Matthew Wilde has scored a point in a team-best four-consecutive games and in seven of the Tigers' last nine outings. He scored his first two goals in a RIT sweater during the 4-2 win at Army (Nov. 3) and added another tally the following night (Nov. 4) in the 5-3 win over the Black Knights. Wilde made it three games in a row with the go-ahead goal in the Tigers' 5-2 win over Mercyhurst (Nov. 10) before finishing the month with a goal and an assist versus New Hampshire.
- RIT is 6-0 this season when leading after the first period and 10-0 when leading after the second. The Tigers are also 9-0 when building a two-goal lead.
