ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT Men's Hockey team heads to Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) rival Air Force this Friday (9:05 PM EST) and Saturday (7:05 PM EST) for its final road games of the 2024-25 regular season.
 
The Tigers look to bounce back from a two-game sweep to Niagara, 7-0 and 6-3, at home last Friday and Saturday while the Falcons hope to snap a four-game slide, including 3-2 and 6-3 setbacks to visiting Holy Cross last weekend.
 
FOLLOW LIVE
Watch: FloHockey.tv/watch
Local Audio: WITR 89.7 FM or FOX Sports 1280 AM
Web Audio: witr.rit.edu or foxsports1280.iheart.com
PxP/Color: Ed Trefzger, Matt Campbell
Live Stats: goairforcefalcons.com
 
TIGER REWIND
RIT fell, 7-0, to visiting Niagara last Friday before coming up short, 6-3, in Saturday's rematch.

On Friday, Niagara scored once in the first period and twice in the second, including with 4.6 seconds on the clock, before tallying three times in the first three minutes of the third. The Tigers killed 6-of-7 Purple Eagle power plays during the game.
 
Saturday's rematch saw senior forward Tanner Andrew open the scoring at 10:02 of the second, before Niagara finished the period with a 2-1 lead. Sophomore forward Christian Catalano tied the game at 6:02 of the third and, after the Purple Eagles retook a 3-2 lead at 9:12, sophomore forward Matthew Wilde retied the game at 12:48. Niagara scored what proved to be the game-winner just over three minutes later before tacking on a power player goal and an empty-netter in the final two minutes to close the series sweep.
 
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Sophomore forward Tyler Fukakusa entered the week tied for 10th nationally with 19 assists and tied for 26th with 26 points.

• A 2025 Hobey Baker Award nominee, Fukakusa is third in Atlantic Hockey with 0.73 assists per game and tied for seventh with 1.00 points per game, including at least one point in all but eight games this season and 12 of the Tigers' last 15 outings.
• He notched a career-high four assists in the 6-2 win at Bentley (Nov. 9) and also scored a goal and an assist in back-to-back games versus Army (Nov. 16) and Sacred Heart (Nov. 22) before adding two assists opposite the Pioneers (Nov. 17) for one of his six multi-point games this winter.
• Fukakusa also entered the week sixth nationally with 302 faceoff victories while winning 54.9 percent of his draws this season. He tied a career-high winning 18-of-31 faceoffs versus Robert Morris at home in December and also won 13-of-15 draws (.867) in the New Hampshire opener.

WELCOME MATT
Sophomore forward Matthew Wilde is currently second in Atlantic Hockey and ranks 25th nationally with 1.11 points per game. He also leads Atlantic Hockey with 0.61 goals per game and is tied for fifth in the conference with 11 goals - only trailing four players who have played anywhere from eight to 10 more games.

• After missing the first eight games with a preseason injury, Wilde has scored at least one point in 12 of 18 games since his return and is second on the squad with 20 points.
• A 2025 Hobey Baker Award nominee, he scored a career-high four points on two goals and two assists in the 6-2 win at Bentley (Nov. 9) for the first of three multi-point games in November.
• Wilde was credited with four points during the two-game set at Sacred Heart, starting with two assists in the opener before logging a goal and an assist the following night.
• Wilde was named to the 2024-25 Atlantic Hockey Preseason All-Conference Team after finishing his rookie season tied for fifth nationally among first-year players with 19 goals while tying for 10th among all freshmen with 35 points. He also broke the Division I-era record for goals by a Tiger first-year by five. 

SIMON SAYS DROP THE PUCK
Junior forward Simon Isabelle entered the week seventh nationally with 293 faceoff victories and, of the 11 players in the country with at least 280 faceoff wins, ranked first with a .578 winning percentage. Isabelle won a career-high 18-of-26 (.692) draws in the 3-2 win at Clarkson, before winning 18-of-23 (.783) faceoffs in the October loss to Bowling Green. Isabelle won 11 faceoffs opposite Niagara last Saturday for his 18th double-digit win performance this winter. He is also tied for second for the Tigers with seven goals and is tied for fifth with 11 points entering this weekend's doubleheader at Air Force.

SPREAD THE LOVE
Twenty-two of the 25 total players on the current roster have tallied at least one point this season, while junior defenseman Crossley Stewart became the 17th to score a goal two weeks ago in the Robert Morris victory.
 
SAVINGS ACCOUNT
First-year Jakub Krbecek totaled 37 saves last Saturday versus Niagara for his 13th game with at 30 saves in 15 appearances this season. Credited with a career-high 44 stops in the 2-1 loss at Bowling Green (Dec. 29), he also made 43 saves in the 2-1 OT loss to the visiting Falcons (Oct. 19) during the Brick City Homecoming game at Blue Cross Arena. Krbecek won the first of two-straight AHA Rookie of the Week honors after making 32 saves in a 3-2 win over Clarkson (Oct. 6) to win his first collegiate start. He also logged his first career point with an assist to go along with 33 saves in the 6-2 win over Bentley (Nov. 9). Current RIT goalie coach Mike Rotolo '17 previously held the mark for the most 30-save games by a RIT first-year in D1-era program history with eight.