Men's Hockey | 3/11/2013 12:54:00 PM

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT men's hockey team travels West on I-90 to face the No. 15 Niagara University Purple Eagles in an AHA Quarterfinals series this weekend. The best of three series at Dwyer Arena takes place on Friday, March 15, Saturday, March 16 and Sunday, March 17 (if necessary). Each game will start at 7:05 p.m. RIT is the No. 8 seed in the Atlantic Hockey Tournament, while Niagara enters as the No. 1 seed.

The Tigers (15-16-5) enter this weekend's contests having won 16-of-22 AHA Postseason contests since becoming eligible for the league's postseason in 2007-08. It is the first time that RIT will play away from Rochester in any AHA postseason contests. The Tigers are appearing in the AHA Quarterfinals for the sixth straight season and will look to advance to the semifinals for the sixth year in a row.
 
Last weekend, RIT swept No.9 seed American International in the best of three first round series, winning 2-1 on Friday and 7-1 on Saturday. Matt Garbowsky (St. George, Ontario/Powell River Kings) had five points on the weekend, while goaltender Jordan Ruby (Tavistock, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) stopped 65-of-67 shots in his first two postseason contests.

Senior defenseman Chris Saracino (St. Louis, MO/Green Bay Gamblers) leads the team and is third nationally among all defensemen in scoring with 32 points on 11 goals and 21 assists. Garbowsky is right behind with 31 points on 10 goals and 21 assists. Garbowsky has 17 points (8-9-17) over a nine-game point-scoring streak and leads all Division I skaters with 19 points since Feb. 1. Senior Jeff Smith (Spokane, WA/Tri-City Storm) leads the squad with 14 goals. In goal, Ruby has started the last 12 games and is 7-4-0 over that span, 8-8-1 overall on the season. The Tigers are tied for fifth nationally in scoring, averaging 3.31 goals per game and have eight players with at least 20 points. RIT's power-play is third nationally, converting at 25.0 percent.

Niagara (21-8-5) enjoyed a first round bye after finishing 20-5-2 in league play during the season. Overall, Niagara is 13-0-2 at Dwyer Arena this season. The Purple Eagles enter the weekend on a two-game losing streak after getting swept at Air Force to end the regular season, March 1-2. Niagara is outscoring its opponents, 107-85 this season. Ryan Murphy leads the team in scoring this season with 15 goals, 17 assists and 32 points. Giancarlo Iuorio leads the team with 17 goals in just 23 games. He recorded 25 points on 15 goals and 10 assists in 16 league games. Six players have at least 20 points. In net, Carsen Chubak is 21-5-5 with a 1.85 goals against average and .941 save percentage to go along with a Division I best six shutouts.

It will be the second time that the two teams have met in the postseason, as the Tigers ended Niagara's season last year with a 2-1 overtime win in the AHA Semifinals at Blue Cross Arena. This season, RIT went 0-1-2 against Niagara. The two teams skated to a 2-2 draw in Niagara on Dec. 12 and 3-3 tie at Ritter Arena on Jan. 25. Niagara defeated RIT 6-4 in Niagara on Jan. 26.
 
RIT is 3-10-8 all-time against the Purple Eagles and 1-8-6 in the Division I era. RIT will look for its first wins at Dwyer Arena this weekend, previously going 0-6-4. Six of the last eight meetings between the two schools have gone to overtime.

Tickets are available for this weekend's games at the Dwyer Arena Box Office or by phone at (716) 286-TIXX. Fans can also purchase tickets at www.PurpleEagles.com/Tickets. Tickets prices are chairback (adult) - $17, chairback (youth) - $12, general reserved (adult) - $12, general reserved (youth) - $7.

If RIT advances, the squad will play in the Atlantic Hockey Semifinal at Blue Cross Arena on March 22 with the league championship being held on March 23. The winner of the AHA Championship receives an automatic bid into the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

Come out to Dwyer Arena and support the Tigers in their quest for the 2013 Atlantic Hockey Championship.