ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT Men's Hockey Team hosts third-ranked Michigan State in the 19th-annual Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend game, Saturday, at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester, N.Y. This will be the first ever meeting between the teams.

The Tigers face their second-straight ranked opponent after earning a 2-2 tie that culminated in a 2-1 shootout win, and falling, 5-1, last Friday and Saturday at No. 18 UMass. The Spartans opened their season with a two-game sweep of visiting Northern Michigan, 6-2 and 5-1, last weekend.

FOLLOW LIVE
Watch: FloHockey.tv/watch
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

STREAMING NOTE: Saturday's game will be streamed on FloHockey24/7 - a free ad supported streaming television (FAST) channel available on YouTube, Amazon Prime Video (US only), Fubo (US and Canda) and Bell Fibe (Canada only) among other select partner networks, including The Roku Channel and LG Channels.

TIGER REWIND
RIT junior goaltender Jakub Krbecek made a career-high 48 saves, but it was host UMass scoring the game-tying goal with half a second left in regulation for an eventual 2-2 tie last Friday. Sophomore forward Camden Bajzer tied the game with 2:53 left in the first before first-year forward Lucas Romeo tallied at 9:31 of the second for a 2-1 lead. The teams were scoreless until the Minutemen equalized with .5 on the clock to force overtime. Following five minutes of three-on-three extra time, RIT won the penalty shootout, 2-1.

On Saturday, UMass led, 2-0, to start the game before sophomore defenseman Nick De Angelis tallied in the final seconds of the first to cut the deficit in half. The Minutemen struck twice in the first eight minutes of the second and later added a third for the decisive four-goal lead after 40 minutes of play. Tiger sophomore goaltender Collin Mackenzie finished with a career-high 41 saves in his first start of the season.

HIT THE BRICKS
RIT hosts Michigan State in its 19th-annual Brick City game, played at the Blue Cross Arena since 2007 in conjunction with Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend. The Tigers have won six of their last seven homecoming games, including a 6-2 victory over Clarkson last year for Head Coach Matt Thomas' first coaching win on the RIT bench. 

HOME AWAY FROM HOME
RIT has many fond memories of playing at the Blue Cross Arena since joining the Division I ranks. Home to the Atlantic Hockey Tournament Semifinal and Championship games from 2007-18, The Tigers punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament with championship victories in 2010, 2015 and 2016, while finishing runner-up in 2011 and 2012. RIT owns a combined 16-10-4 record at Blue Cross Arena in the Division I era, including an 8-4 mark in Atlantic Hockey Tournament play.

MORE ABOUT THE TENDIES
• Junior goaltender Jakub Krbecek's 48 saves last Friday were the third highest single-game total in RIT D1-era history and the most since Jocelyn Guimond made 53 in 3-1 loss at No. 8 Cornell (Jan. 7, 2006) during the Tigers' first season as a D1 program. Guimond also made a D1-era record 66 in a 3-2 win versus St. Lawrence (Oct. 28, 2005) that same season. 
• Krbecek's 48 saves are the second-highest total in the nation so far this young season. Lake Superior first-year Anders Miller totaled 49 stops in a 4-3 win over Lindenwood last Saturday
• Krbecek notched his fourth career game with at least 40 saves, eclipsing his previous career-high 44 stops he made on two previous occasions, including a 1-0 shutout of visiting Penn State (Jan. 3) last season.
• Mackenzie became the 11th RIT goaltender to register at least 40 saves in a game, tying for the 20th-highest total in the Tiger record book with his 41 stops.

THE BIGGER THEY ARE....
The third-ranked Spartans will be the highest ranked team RIT has played in the regular season since falling 6-2 at No. 2 Boston  College on Nov. 28, 2015. RIT's last win over a ranked team was a 1-0 shutout of No. 8/9 Penn State on Jan. 3 of last season.

FAMILIAR FACE
Former standout RIT goaltender Jared DeMichiel returns to Rochester this weekend. The current Associate Head Coach for Michigan State backstopped the Tigers during their run to the program's first Atlantic Hockey Championship and the 2010 Frozen Four, finishing the season with a program-record 27-10-1 mark with a .921 save percentage and a 2.09 GAA.
• DeMichiel was undefeated in 12 games leading up to the Frozen Four, including four shutouts, only allowing 16 goals during the stretch. 
• He stopped 39 shots as RIT upset second-overall seed Denver, 2-1, in the NCAA Regional Semifinals before turning aside 24 shots in the 6-2 victory over New Hampshire to be named East Region MOP. 
• The 2010 Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Year still ranks third in RIT D1-era history with 41 wins, third with a career .248 GAA, third with seven shutouts and seventh with 1,588 career saves.