Men's Hockey | 9/20/2011 10:14:00 AM

ROCHESTER, NY – For the second straight season, the RIT men's hockey team was picked to finish first in the 2011-12 Atlantic Hockey Association preseason poll, as voted on by the conference's coaches, and announced at the conference's annual media day held at Blue Cross Arena on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

RIT, the three-time defending Atlantic Hockey regular season champions, is the top pick in the preseason poll, while 2011 AHA tournament champion Air Force is picked to finish second, and Holy Cross is projected to place third.

Both the Tigers and Falcons collected five first place votes, with RIT securing 113 points to 112 for Air Force. The two teams appeared in the 2011 AHA Championship, with Air Force coming out on top, 1-0, despite RIT holding a 40-24 edge in shots. Since RIT moved to Division I in 2005, the Tigers and Falcons have developed the league's best rivalry, with Air Force holding a slim 12-10-3 edge in 25 meetings. Of those 25 meetings, 16 have been decided by one goal or ended in a tie.

RIT returns 19 players from last season's squad, including 2011 AHA Goaltender of the Year Shane Madolora (Salinas, CA/), who led all of Division I with six shutouts and a .935 save percentage. The Tigers bring back all seven defensemen from a year ago, including tri-captains Chris Haltigin (Oakville, Ontario/), Daniel Spivak (Thornhill, Ontario/), and Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers). Saracino, a junior, was an All-AHA second team selection last season. Up front, Cameron Burt (Detroit, MI/), the 2010 AHA Tournament MVP is back for his final season.

"On paper, we are really excited with what we return and who we bring in this season, but obviously that has to translate to on-ice success," said RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson, the 2010 Spencer Penrose Award winner as Division I coach of the Year. "Our goals remain the same, as we want to win as many non-conference games as we can, get home ice advantage for the AHA playoffs, and most importantly, win our conference championship, and get to the NCAA Tournament."

Holy Cross, who made a great late season push to finish third in the AHA and advance to the Blue Cross Arena for the first time, was chosen to finish third, garnering 103 points with two first place votes. Holy Cross, which made its first trip to the Blue Cross Arena last season, was chosen third by the coaches garnering 103 points and the final two (2) first place votes. Niagara comes in fourth with 89 points and rounding out the top five is Connecticut with 79 points. Completing the top half of the standings is Robert Morris in sixth place with 70 points.

The bottom half of the standings sees Mercyhurst in seventh with 59 points, Army in eighth with 51 points, Canisius is ninth with 42 points, Bentley is tenth with 41 points, Sacred Heart was picked 11th with 20 points and rounding out the 2011-12 preseason poll is American International in 12th with 13 points.

RIT is in the Western pod and will play Mercyhurst, Air Force, Robert Morris, Niagara, and Canisius three times apiece this season. The Tigers will play two games each against Eastern pod teams Sacred Heart, Holy Cross, Army, Bentley, Connecticut, and Sacred Heart.

"Our league continues to get better, and the difference between top to bottom continues to get smaller and smaller from year to year," said Wilson.

The 2012 Atlantic Hockey Tournament will feature yet another format. This year the top four teams receive a bye into the Quarterfinal round with seeds 5-8 hosting seeds 9-12 in a best two-out-of-three weekend series starting Friday, March 2. The First Round winners will then be re-seeded and travel to the top four seeds for a best-two-out-of-three Quarterfinal series, which will begin on Friday, March 9. The four winners will then travel to the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y. with the highest remaining seed facing the lowest remaining seed in the first semifinal, with the other two remaining seeds facing off in the second semifinal on Friday, March 16. The two semifinal winners will then face-off in the Championship game on Saturday, March 17 with the NCAA automatic berth on the line.

RIT opens the season with an exhibition contest against Brock University of Canada on Saturday, October 1 at 7:05 p.m. The Tigers jump right into conference play, opening the regular season on Saturday, October 8 against Niagara at Ritter Arena. On Saturday, October 15, the Tigers host St. Lawrence at Blue Cross Arena for Brick City Homecoming and Family Weekend at 7:05 p.m. Last year, the Tigers drew a sellout crowd of 10,556 fans at Blue Cross Arena and hope to duplicate that attendance this season.

This is the second straight season and third time overall that RIT will enter a season as the AHA preseason favorite, having also received the honor in 2007-08. RIT was picked to finish eighth in 2006-07, and third in both 2008-09, and 2009-10. RIT won the regular season title in all three seasons they were not picked to finish first.

RIT has won four of the last five AHA regular season titles. In 2010, RIT won its first AHA postseason title, parlaying that success into an historic run to the NCAA Tournament, where they advanced to the Frozen Four.

The Atlantic Hockey Association arose on June 30, 2003, to found a new Division-I men's ice hockey conference. The league is comprised of twelve members: Air Force Academy, American International College, Army, Bentley University, Canisius College, University of Connecticut, College of the Holy Cross, Mercyhurst College, Rochester Institute of Technology and Sacred Heart University with Niagara and Robert Morris becoming full members at the start of the 2010-11 season.

2011-12 Atlantic Hockey Association Preseason Coaches Poll
1. RIT (5) - 113
2. Air Force (5) – 112
3. Holy Cross (2) - 103
4. Niagara - 89
5. Connecticut - 79
6. Robert Morris - 70
7. Mercyhurst - 59
8. Army - 51
9. Canisius - 42
10. Bentley - 41
11. Sacred Heart - 20
12. American International - 13
(First Place votes)