ROCHESTER, N.Y. — RIT second-year Men's Hockey Coach Matt Thomas announced the 2026–27 schedule, Friday,
 
The Tigers are slated to play 15 contests at the Gene Polisseni Center, while also hosting Michigan State at Blue Cross Arena in the annual Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend game in October. RIT's non-conference schedule also includes six games opposite ECAC Hockey foes, including dates with Clarkson and St. Lawrence at the Adirondack Invitational in Lake Placid, N.Y., as well as three dates with Hockey East opponents.
 
"We're excited to get back at it with a group that we know will be hungry to compete, and this year's strong non‑conference schedule will challenge us right from the start," said Thomas. "Our focus is on building momentum throughout the year and putting ourselves in the best position to compete for another Atlantic Hockey Championship."
 
The Tigers open the season with a home‑and‑home Atlantic Hockey America (AHA) series against Niagara, traveling to Dwyer Arena on Oct. 2 before hosting the Purple Eagles on Oct. 3. Following a two‑game road series at UMass (Oct. 9–10), RIT welcomes Michigan State to downtown Rochester (Oct. 17).
 
The Tigers will host two games with RPI (Oct. 23–24) before playing back-to-back conference road doubleheaders at Army (Oct. 30-31) and two-time defending AHA Champion Bentley (Nov. 6-7). RIT returns home for a date with conference-rival Canisius (Nov. 14) before heading to famed Herb Brooks Arena – the site of USA Hockey's "Miracle on Ice" during the 1980 Winter Olympics -- to take on Clarkson (Nov. 27) and St. Lawrence (Nov. 28) in the Adirondack Invitational.
 
The Tigers also visit Colgate (Dec. 4) and Cornell (Dec. 5) and host Niagara (Dec. 12) to close the first half of the season.  
 
RIT will host Guelph (Dec. 31) for an exhibition game following a 19-day holiday break, before hitting the road for a single game at New Hampshire (Jan. 2) to round out the non-conference slate.
 
RIT returns to AHA play with a two‑game series with visiting Robert Morris (Jan. 8-9) before making the cross-country trip to Colorado for two at Air Force (Jan. 15-16). The Tigers return home for two straight weekends, hosting Holy Cross (Jan. 22-23) and Army (Jan. 29-30), and then open February with a doubleheader at Sacred Heart (Feb. 5-6).
 
Bentley will make the return trip for two games at the GPC (Feb. 12–13) before the Tigers head to Robert Morris (Feb. 19-20) and Niagara (Feb. 25) for their final three regular season road games.
 
RIT will host Canisius (Feb. 27) in its final postseason tune-up, with the first-round of the AHA Tournament scheduled for March 2, followed by best-of-three quarterfinal series (Mar. 5-7) and semifinal series (Mar. 12-14). The AHA Championship game is scheduled for March 20 on the ice of the top remaining seed.
 
RIT finished the 2025-26 season with a 17-17-2 record -- a seven-win improvement over the 2024-25 campaign. The Tigers earned the fifth seed for the AHA Tournament after finishing with a 13-11-2 conference mark, falling in the best-of-three quarterfinals at fourth-seeded Holy Cross.
 
Ticket information for the 2026-27 season will be announced at a later date. Stay tuned to ritathletics.com for all the latest information about the coming season.