ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The RIT Men's Hockey team heads to Army for its second-consecutive Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) road doubleheader, Friday and Saturday.
The Tigers clinched their second-straight five-point weekend last week, defeating host Mercyhurst, 3-1, on Saturday to follow up a 2-2 in last Friday's opener that culminated in a 2-0 shootout win.
The Black Knights are coming off their third-consecutive AHA doubleheader split, defeating host Holy Cross, 3-2 in overtime last Friday, before falling, 3-0 on Saturday.
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, Scott Biggar
Live Stats:
ritathletics.com/sidearmstats/mhockey
TIGER REWIND
RIT came back for a 2-2 tie last Friday versus host Mercyhurst. RIT first-year forward
Evan Konyen scored in the opening minutes of the second period, before the Lakers tallied twice to carry a 2-1 lead into the third. Tiger first-year forward
William Moore tied the game with 8:52 on the clock as the teams finished scoreless the rest of regulation and overtime. First-year forward
Zach Wigle and Konyen later scored to seal the penalty shootout win. Sophomore goaltender
Jakub Krbecek totaled 18 saves, including two in overtime, before stopping both shots he faced during the deciding penalty shootout.
Junior forward
Christian Catalano tied a career-high with three points in Saturday's 3-1 win. After a scoreless first period, junior forward
Boris Skalos and sophomore defenseman
Mason Croucher scored back-to-back goals for a 2-0 Tiger lead in the second. Mercyhurst made it a one-goal game heading into the third, but a late empty-net goal by Catalano sealed the RIT victory. Krbecek was once again credited with 18 saves, combining to stop 36 of 39 shots during the weekend series while improving to 15-9-1 this winter.
KING KONYEN
First-year forward Even Konyen was named the AHA Rookie of the Month for January. Konyen leads RIT with 11 goals and is tied for first with 20 points. In 10 games last month, Konyen totaled nine points on five goals and four assists, including two game-winning tallies. He scored the game-winning goal in RIT's 1-0 shutout of Penn State (Jan. 3) on his way to AHA Rookie of the Week honors and was also credited with the game-winner, along with an assist and two blocked shots in the Tigers' 3-2 overtime win over Robert Morris (Jan. 10).
POLL WATCHING
RIT received votes in both national polls for the fifth consecutive week. The Tigers earned a vote in the USCHO.com poll for the 11th time this season, while also landing two votes for their eighth showing in the USA Hockey poll.
THE KILLERS
RIT ranks sixth nationally while leading the AHA with an .868 penalty killing percentage this week, only allowing 11 goals in 86 opponent power play attempts this season. RIT is also 15th nationally in scoring defense, only allowing 2.43 goals per game.
ZACH ATTACK
First-year forward
Zach Wigle is tied for the RIT lead with 20 points on six goals and a team-best 14 assists. He has at least a point in eight of RIT's last 11 games, totaling 11 points on two goals and nine assists. Over the same span, he has also notched double-digit faceoff wins on seven occasions, winning 57.7 percent (135-234) of his draws. After recently notching two assists in the 4-2 win at Niagara, he scored a goal and won a career-high 19 faceoffs on 25 attempts for a .760 winning percentage--also a personal best--in the 3-3 home tie the following night.
BRIMMING WITH CONFIDENCE
Senior forward
Austin Brimmer ranks fourth for the Tigers with 19 points on seven goals and 12 assists. Brimmer was named the AHA Player of the Week (Jan. 27) after logging back-to-back multi-point games during RIT's home-and-home series versus Niagara. He started with a goal and an assist in Friday's 4-2 victory as the Tigers won at Niagara for the first time since 2018. He then logged two assists to help the Tigers come back for a 3-3 tie on Saturday that ended in a shootout victory.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• RIT is currently 13-2-1 when scoring at least three goals but is 2-9-1 when scoring fewer than three goals
• RIT is 13-2 when holding opponents under three goals, but 1-9-1 when allowing three or more goals.
• The Tigers are 15-2 when holding at least a share of the lead after two periods this season, including an 11-0 mark when leading after 40 minutes of play. However, RIT is 0-9-2 when trailing entering the third period.
TIGERS VS. ARMY
Friday's game will mark the 43rd all-time D1-era meeting between RIT and Army. The Tigers lead the all-time series, 27-8-7, including a 13-6-3 home record and a 14-2-4 road mark. The Tigers haven't lost in West Point since a 2-1 setback on Nov. 22, 2019 while RIT's only other loss was a 2-1 setback on Dec. 29, 2006--the first D1-era meeting between the two teams. Army swept the most recent series, winning 5-1 and 4-2 (Nov. 15-16) last season in Rochester.
