ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT hosts Union Saturday night time at 7:05 p.m. in the yearly Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend sport performed at Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester.
The Tigers are coming off an Atlantic Hockey sweep of visiting Army ultimate weekend in their first two house video games of the seasons, whilst Union dropped a couple of contests at No. 20 Connecticut ultimate Friday and Saturday.
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TIGER TRACKS
RIT earned a 3-2 win over Army ultimate Friday, ahead of taking a 4-1 determination reverse the Black Knights on Saturday in its first two house video games of the season.
Junior Aiden Hansen-Bukata used to be named the Atlantic Hockey Defensive Player of the Week after notching what proved to be the game-winning target together with an lend a hand and 3 blocked pictures in the opener ahead of scoring a target and blocking off a career-high six pictures the next night time.
Sophomore goaltender Tommy Scarfone totaled 32 saves, together with 17 in the second one duration, to keep Friday’s win. Junior Kolby Matthews made 27 stops, protecting the Black Knights scoreless over the overall 42:35, to earn Saturday’s win in his first get started of the season.
Senior ahead Elijah Gonsalves gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead on Friday night time and later added an lend a hand for his first issues of the season. Grad scholar ahead Kobe Walker additionally scored his first target of the season, hanging RIT at the board with 12:18 left in the second one duration following a scoreless first.
Sophomore forwards Carter Wilkie and Grady Hobbs each and every tallied a target and an lend a hand in Saturday’s win. Wilkie notched a power-play tally with 7:42 left in the primary duration for what proved to be the game-winner – his first of the season after tying for first nationally a season in the past with six. Hobbs later driven the Tigers to a 3-1 lead lower than 3 mins into the 1/3 duration ahead of Hansen-Bukata tacked on an empty-net target in the ultimate seconds. The groups blended for 23 consequences and 84 PIM.
HIT THE BRICKS
RIT hosts Union in its Fifteenth-annual Brick City sport, performed on the Blue Cross Arena since 2007 in conjunction with Homecoming & Family Weekend. Unbeaten in their earlier six journeys downtown, the Tigers will probably be in the search for for his or her fourth-consecutive win after defeating St Lawrence, 2-1, a yr in the past to practice up wins over Merrimack, 4-0, in 2019 and Colgate, 6-1, in 2018.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME
RIT has many fond recollections of enjoying on the Blue Cross Arena since becoming a member of the Division I ranks. Home to the Atlantic Hockey Tournament Semifinal and Championship video games from 2007-18, The Tigers punched their price ticket to the NCAA Tournament with championship victories in 2010, 2015 and 2016, whilst completing runner-up in 2011 and 2012. RIT owns a blended 13-9-4 checklist at Blue Cross Arena in the Division I period, together with an 8-4 mark in Atlantic Hockey Tournament play.
OK. LET’S TRY THIS AGAIN
RIT opened the season with a 4-3 setback at Union two weeks in the past and is recently 0-7-1 reverse the Dutchemen right through the Division I period. Sophomore ahead Tanner Andrew scored the primary target of the season, tipping house a brief feed from sophomore ahead Evan Miller 10:47 into the primary duration ahead of Miller discovered the online off a feed from grad switch defenseman Matt Kellenberger with 25 seconds at the clock for a 2-0 Tiger lead after 20 mins of play. The Dutchmen scored lower than 3 mins into the second one ahead of Tiger junior ahead Cody Laskosky completed an end-to-end rush with a glove-side end for a 3-1 lead with 13:01 at the clock. Union pulled again inside one lower than a minute later and scored two unanswered targets in the 1/3 duration, together with the game-winner with 1:33 ultimate to complete the comeback. Sophomore goaltender Tommy Scarfone completed with 29 saves, together with 12 right through the second one duration.
MILLER TIME
Tiger sophomore Evan Miller used to be named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the week after notching his first collegiate target and multi-point sport in opposition to Union. Miller ignored all however two video games ultimate season because of harm, notching an lend a hand in his collegiate debut right through RIT’s season-opening 5-2 loss at Colgate (Oct. 2) and additionally performed in the Tigers’ 3-2 disappointed at Notre Dame (Oct. 21).
CRACKING THE CODY
Junior ahead Cody Laskosky has scored some extent in all 3 video games to start out the season, scoring a target in the Union determination and including an lend a hand to each and every of the successful Army efforts.
MR. BRIGHTSIDE
RIT completed 6-for-6 at the penalty kill, together with a couple of 5-on-3 alternatives right through the second one duration, in the Union opener. The Tigers additionally killed seven of the 9 overall Army chronic performs they confronted ultimate weekend because the RIT protection simplest allowed one even-strength target right through the collection.
DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER
Before the hole loss to Union, RIT hadn’t misplaced a sport when main after two sessions since falling to Holy Cross on Jan. 31, 2020, letting a 3-2 lead after 40 mins slip away in a 4-3 setback. The Tigers additionally hadn’t misplaced a sport when main by means of two or extra targets since giving up a 2-0 result in Long Island University in a 4-3 loss on Dec. 11, 2020. RIT completed 10-0-1 ultimate season when protecting a lead after two sessions and used to be additionally 12-1-1 when scoring first.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
RIT is enjoying the sixtieth males’s hockey season in program historical past. After beginning as an unofficial membership for 2 years, the workforce used to be given the cheap of $1,113.20 for the 1961-62 season and named James E. Musker the primary head trainer. RIT performed a 14-game season (all on house ice on the former Rochester War Memorial) with a workforce in the beginning constructed from over 45 contributors and, with the brand new NCAA regulations, used to be required to buy helmets for the workforce at a value of $62.50. Men’s hockey later become an intercollegiate recreation at RIT in 1964.
THANKS, YOU TOO
Atlantic Hockey could also be celebrating its twentieth season in 2022-23. Entering its seventeenth season in the league, RIT is in the search for its fourth convention name and first since successful back-to-back crowns in 2015 and 2016. The Tigers received their first AHA Championship in 2010, ahead of changing into the league’s first (and nonetheless simplest) member to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four. RIT completed atop the 2006-07 steady season standings right through its first season in the AHA, however used to be now not eligible for postseason play.
WAYNE’S WORLD
Head Coach Wayne Wilson become the forty ninth NCAA males’s hockey trainer to hit the 400-win plateau with the 1-0 OT win at Princeton (Nov. 27) ultimate season. Wilson recently ranks 9th amongst lively coaches with a 411-291-77 checklist the ultimate 24 seasons – all at the Tiger bench. The simplest trainer in NCAA historical past to win the Spencer Penrose (D1 National COY, 2001) and the Sid Watson (D3 National COY, 2010), he totaled a 116-31-12 mark in six Division III campaigns (1999-2005) and owns a 295-260-65 checklist right through 18 Division-I seasons.
BIG RED
Sophomore ahead Carter Wilkie used to be named the Atlantic Hockey Co-Preseason Player of the Year and a member of the Preseason All-Atlantic Hockey Team. Wilkie returns after main the Tigers with 30 issues and 17 assists, whilst completing moment with 13 targets right through his first season in Orange and Black. He additionally tied for moment in the country with six game-winning targets, and become simply the 5th Division I participant in over 10 years to notch 3 additional time game-winning tallies. The 2022 Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year and an AHA All-Rookie Team honoree, Wilkie landed seven convention Rookie of the Week honors a season in the past, and used to be additionally named the league’s Rookie of the Month on 3 events.
TENDER LOVING CARE
Sophomore goaltender Tommy Scarfone joined Wilkie at the AHA All-Rookie Team ultimate iciness. He completed fourth in the convention with a 2.46 targets in opposition to moderate in addition to a .919 save share en path to an 8-9-1 checklist. Starting the overall 11 video games of the season, he tied a profession excessive with 39 saves in the Tigers’ 1-0 shutout of Sacred Heart in the hole sport of the AHA Quarterfinals for his 8th 30-plus save day out of the season. He additionally logged 33 saves on 3 different events right through the run, together with the 4-4 tie with AIC (Feb. 5) in addition to in the 4-2 win at Niagara (Feb. 18) en path to Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week honors. Scarfone closed the steady season with 33 saves in the Tigers’ 1-0 OT setback at Air drive (Feb. 26).
GAME CHANGING VOTE
An offer used to be handed ultimate January on the NCAA Convention right through the Division III Business assembly which is able to permit RIT to provide scholarships to its Division I males’s and girls’s hockey student-athletes. Multi-divisional intercollegiate athletic methods like RIT, which sponsors 22 Division III groups together with two Division I hockey groups, had been in the past now not allowed to use all Division I law to its Division I groups, together with the lack to award athletic grant-in-aid to its gamers in response to a 2004 bylaw. However, with the vote overwhelmingly passing by means of a 388-18-39 margin, the Tigers will probably be at the identical footing as the remainder of its friends around the nation with a complete 18 scholarships to be had to each and every hockey workforce.
DEARLY DEPARTED
RIT graduated 3 of ultimate season’s top-five scorers, together with Will Calverley, Dan Willett and Jake Hamacher. A Hobey Baker nominee and 2021 second-team All-American, Calverley led the Tigers with 15 targets and used to be moment with 27 issues en path to his second-straight First-Team All-Atlantic Hockey award. Hamacher used to be 1/3 with 21 issues (9 targets, 12 assists) and tied for tenth in D1-era historical past with 106 issues (43 targets, 63 assists). Willett completed moment with 13 assists and 5th with 18 issues whilst score fourth nationally with 91 blocked pictures. Willett and Hamacher additionally completed first and moment in program historical past with 166 and 165 video games performed, respectively.
SKY WALKER
Fifth-year Kobe Walker returns after completing moment for the 2021-22 Tigers with 11 targets, together with 3 power-play tallies, two game-winners and two short-handed ratings. In 29 appearances, the top-line proper winger’s 19 issues ranked fourth at the squad, whilst his 8 assists tied for the sixth-highest overall at the workforce. A 3-time Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team member, Walker entered the season with 111 appearances in an RIT sweater together with 56 profession issues on 28 targets and 28 assists to this point.
ABOUT THE DUTCHMEN
Union dropped a couple of street choices at No. 20 UConn ultimate weekend, falling 4-1 in Friday’s opener and 4-3 in additional time on Saturday. After opening the season with a 4-3 win over visiting RIT, the Dutchmen additionally tied host Army, 2-2 (Oct. 2) tomorrow. Nine Dutchmen have scored a target this season, whilst first-year ahead Carter Korpi is the lone multi-goal scorer with two in the RIT win. First-year ahead Nate Hanley leads the squad with 4 issues and is tied with AIC grad switch Chris Theodore with 3 assists. Senior goaltender Connor Murphy has seemed in all 4 video games, together with 3 begins, and has compiled a .902 save share and a 2.84 targets in opposition to moderate. He made a season-high 30 saves in opposition to Army, sandwiched between 22-save showings reverse RIT and in the UConn opener.
LET’S JUST RE-LAX
RIT and Union meet steadily in many different sports activities as the vast majority of groups in each athletic departments play on the NCAA Division III stage and are contributors of the Liberty League. RIT additionally confronted Union in the lads’s lacrosse nationwide championship sport ultimate spring, marking the primary time in the historical past of the event two groups from the similar convention performed for the name. Union opened a 7-2 lead with lower than 5 mins left in the second one quarter, however RIT scored eight-straight targets to take a 10-7 lead it could now not relinquish en path to a 12-10 victory and a second-consecutive nationwide championship.
BERRY GOOD
Fifth-year Spencer Berry is again for his ultimate season after completing 2021-22 as considered one of 3 Tiger defenseman who seemed in all 38 video games right through the season, completing moment at the workforce with 52 blocked pictures to head together with 3 assists. A four-time Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team honoree, he returned this season with 88 video games performed and 10 profession issues (all assists).
ANDREW-BE-DO-BE-DOO
Fifth-year Andrew Petrucci performed 35 video games ultimate season, notching a target and an lend a hand. The hard-nosed fourth-line centerman entered the season with 104 video games right through his RIT profession, compiling 15 issues on 8 targets and seven assists. He could also be a four-time Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team honoree.
GOING GONZO
Senior Elijah Gonsalves returned with 70 profession video games and 52 issues on 20 targets and 32 assists. The 2019-20 Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Team honoree scored higher than 20 issues his first two seasons and appears to be like to dance again after having his season minimize brief because of harm after 15 appearances ultimate yr. Gonsalves is a two-time Atlantic All-Academic Team honoree and used to be an AHCA All-American Scholar in 2020-21.
MORE IS BETTER
Senior Caleb Moretz entered the season with 40 issues in 89 profession appearances the ultimate 3 seasons, together with a target and 5 assists enjoying all 38 video games ultimate iciness. He used to be 1/3 at the workforce with 244 face-off wins and moment with a 52.7 face-off win share. A 3-time AHCA All-American Scholar and Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team member, Moretz additionally completed moment amongst forwards at the workforce with 24 blocked pictures.
PLAYOFFS. PLAYOFFS?
Atlantic Hockey followed a brand new layout for its 2022-23 postseason event — simplest the top-eight of the league’s 10 groups in the overall regular-season standings will qualify for the playoffs and all 3 rounds will probably be hosted on campus websites. The top-seed will host the 8th seed, the second-seed will host the 7th seed, and so forth. in the best-of-three quarterfinals (Mar. 3-5), ahead of the 2 easiest ultimate seeds host the 2 lowest ultimate seeds in the best-of-three semifinals (Mar. 10-12). The easiest ultimate seed will then host the championship sport (Mar. 18) with the winner incomes an automated bid to the NCAA Tournament.
WHO’S AFRAID OF A COUPLE EXTRA MINUTES
RIT completed the 2021-22 season with a 6-1-4 checklist in 11 additional time video games, together with a 1-0 win over Sacred Heart in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament Semifinal opener.
MAGIC NUMBER
RIT’s used to be 16-4-3 a season in the past when protecting combatants to a few targets or much less, together with an 14-3-1 mark when protecting combatants beneath 3 targets.
JUST LEAVE THE RED LIGHT ON NEXT TIME
RIT used to be credited with the quickest consecutive targets by means of the similar workforce in over 24 years on the finish of its 4-2 win at Niagara (Feb. 18) ultimate season. Carter Wilkie broke a 2-2 tie with 10.4 seconds left in law ahead of Will Calverley used to be credited with a target with 6.9 at the clock after the Purple Eagles received the following draw at once again into their very own empty internet. According to the NCAA checklist ebook, RIT tied the fourth-fastest pair of targets ever scored by means of the similar workforce, matching UMass-Lowell’s Randy LeBrasseur and Bill Dohaney’s feat in opposition to Minnesota on Jan. 3, 1987. The Tiger targets had been additionally the fastest since Nebraska-Omaha’s Andrew Tortorella and Jason Cupp scored in a three-second span reverse Denver on Nov. 15, 1997. New Hampshire’s John Gray scored two times in a three-second span as opposed to Colgate on Feb. 6, 1971 for the quickest consecutive targets scored by means of the similar participant, whilst Colorado College’s Tony Frasca and Omer Brandt cling the all time checklist with targets in a two-second span in opposition to Michigan Tech on Feb. 1, 1962.
DO AS I SAY AND DID
Former Tigers standout Shane Madolora is again for his moment season with this system as Volunteer Goalie Coach. The 2012 graduate stays the Division I-era program chief with a .932 save share, which is tied for tenth in NCAA historical past. He could also be tops with a 1.97 targets in opposition to moderate, which stays tied for twentieth in the NCAA checklist ebook. Madolora established single-season program data as a junior which nonetheless stand, main the country with a .935 save share to head together with a stingy 1.93. GAA on his option to Inside College Hockey Second-Team All-America honors and Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Year reputation. The following yr, he tied his personal checklist with a 1.93 GAA to head together with a .931 save share whilst tying for first nationally with a program-record seven shutouts. Madolora stays first in Tiger historical past (and tied for twenty first in NCAA historical past) with 13 profession shutouts, in addition to fourth with 1,727 saves, 5th with 36 wins, and tied for 5th with 65 appearances. His 18-9-5 checklist right through the 2011-12 marketing campaign tied for the second-highest single-season win overall by means of a Tiger, finishing his RIT profession with a 36-14-2 checklist.
OH, CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
Five gamers are skating with letters on their sweaters right through the 2022-23 season. Fifth-years Kobe Walker and Andrew Petrucci had been increased to co-captains after serving as change captains a season in the past, whilst seniors Spencer Berry, Elijah Gonsalves and Caleb Moretz had been named change captains.
TIGERS IN THE NHL
Former RIT standout defenseman Chris Tanev enters his 14th season in the NHL, spending his first 11 with the Vancouver Canucks ahead of signing a unfastened agent contract with the Calgary Flames previous to the 2020-21 season. Voted the 2010 AHA Rookie of the Year, Tanev made his NHL debut on Jan. 18, 2011, changing into the primary RIT participant to seem in an NHL contest. Entering the 2022-23 season, he has performed in 652 NHL video games with 30 targets and 128 assists for 158 profession issues. He received a gold medal with Team Canada on the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships and used to be named a finalist for the NHL’s Masterson Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and willpower to hockey. Tanev tallied 28 issues (10-18-28) and used to be plus-33 in 41 video games for RIT in 2009-10. He and any other former Tiger, Steve Pinizzotto (2005-07), had been teammates with Vancouver in 2012-13. Pinizzotto tallied 57 issues (20-37-57) in 54 profession video games for the Tigers and seemed in 36 NHL video games with two targets and 4 assists.
RIT’s NCAA DIVISION II/III HISTORY
RIT has made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1983. RIT received the 1983 Division II National Championship ahead of successful the Division III National Championship in 1985. The Tigers additionally completed as Division III runner-up in 1989, 1996 and 2001 whilst making semifinal appearances in 1984, 1986, 1999, and 2010. Overall, RIT used to be 26-15-4 in NCAA contests on the DII/III stage and is 3-2 in 5 Division I event showings. The Tigers made the NCAA Tournament in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2015, and 2016.
FINAL FOUR FRENZY
RIT used to be the primary workforce in NCAA historical past to achieve the Frozen Four in its first postseason look in 2010 and used to be additionally the primary Atlantic Hockey workforce to achieve the nationwide semifinals. RIT used to be one win clear of duplicating that feat in 2014-15 after provoking total top-seed Minnesota State, 1-0, in the Midwest Region Semifinals.
NON-CONFERENCE, NO PROBLEM
RIT completed the non-conference portion of the 2021-22 agenda with a 4-4-0 checklist, tying the easiest single-season win overall in the Division-I period. It used to be additionally the Tigers’ third-consecutive season completing with a .500 checklist in non-league video games after completing 2-2-1 in 2020-21 and 4-4-0 in 2019-20.