Men's Hockey | 10/25/2016 10:04:00 AM
ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT men's hockey team returns to conference play this weekend, travelling east to take on Atlantic Hockey foe Bentley University for a pair of games. Both Friday and Saturday's games from the John A. Ryan Skating Center begin at 7:05 p.m.
RIT (1-3-1, 1-1-0 Atlantic Hockey) enters the weekend looking to get back in the win column after dropping two games at ECAC foes Union and Rensselaer. The Tigers fell to Union 5-2 on Friday and 6-3 at Rensselaer on Saturday. On Friday,
Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's) scored a goal and added an assist, while
Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) made 29 saves on 32 shots. The game was tied 2-2 late in the third before Union scored a late goal and added two empty-netters. Saturday, RIT rallied from 3-1 down to tie the game at 3-3 before RPI scored three unanswered goals. Brown, Cameron, and
Gabe Valenzuela (Brampton, Ontario/North York Rangers) scored, while
Abbott Girduckis (Belleville, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) added two assists. Rotolo made 18 saves on 20 shots in relief.
RIT has four skaters averaging at least a point per game. Cameron leads the team in scoring with six points on three goals and three assists, while Brown,
Chase Norrish (Strongfield, Saskatchewan/Yorkton Terriers), and
Liam Kerins (Caledon, Ontario/North York Rangers) have five points apiece.
Bentley comes into the weekend with a 2-2-1 overall record and like RIT, is 1-1-0 in conference play. The Falcons began conference play last weekend by splitting a pair of games at Air Force Academy. Air Force won 5-2 on Friday evening, while Bentley rebounded with a resounding 6-1 win Saturday. Max French leads the Falcons in scoring with eight points on two goals and six assists. The senior forward has 112 career points in 105 games. Alexey Solovyev leads the team with four goals. In net, Jayson Argue is 2-2-1 with a 2.84 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. Bentley is out-scoring its opponents, 17-15 this season.
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools 19-11-2 and went 2-2 against the Falcons last season, as the road team won all four meetings. RIT went 9-2-3 in 14 Atlantic Hockey road games last season. The two teams will meet two more times this season, Jan. 27-28, 2017 at the Gene Polisseni Center.
Both games will be broadcast on WITR 89.7 FM, with Scott Biggar and Ed Trefzger brining you all the action. Live video and live stats will also be available for Friday and Saturday's contests.
Follow the Tigers as they attempt to win their third straight Atlantic Hockey Championship in 2016-17.
