Men's Hockey | 10/4/2016 8:14:00 AM
ROCHESTER, NY – The two-time defending Atlantic Hockey Champion RIT men's hockey team opens the 2016-17 season with a pair of home games against league foe Robert Morris University on Friday, Oct. 7 and Saturday, Oct. 8. Both games from the Gene Polisseni Center begin at 7:05 p.m.
Tickets for both games are available at the Gene Polisseni Center and Gordon Field House Box Offices, or by calling (585) 475-4121 or by visiting
www.rithockey.com.
On Friday, RIT students (with proper ID) will receive a free ticket sponsored by Student Affairs. There will also be a pre-game tailgate at 5:30 p.m. for students with a free t-shirt and ice cream giveaway for the first 1,000 in attendance. Saturday is hockey bingo night. Score bingo and win gift cards including the grand prize, a $100 gift card to Barnes and Noble.
The two games this weekend serve as a rematch from the 2016 Atlantic Hockey Championship game, won by RIT, 7-4. It is only the second time in RIT's Division I history that they will open the season against an Atlantic Hockey foe. In 2011, RIT opened the season against Niagara, skating to a scoreless tie at Ritter Arena.
Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals),
Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines ), and
Michael Holland (Rye, NH/Chicago Steel) scored, while the duo of
Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) and
Christian Short (Vaughan, Ontario/Surrey Eagles) combined to make 19 saves, as RIT earned a 3-0 victory over Brock University last Saturday. RIT scored a goal in each period and out-shot Brock, 31-19. RIT was 8-for-8 on the penalty-kill.
RIT has two wins in regular season openers at the Division I level at No. 3 Michigan in 2012 and home vs. St. Lawrence in the Polisseni Center debut in 2014-15. The Tigers are 4-6-1 in home openers at the DI level. Overall, RIT is 5-3-2 in Atlantic Hockey openers and 5-3-2 in league opening games on home ice.
RIT returns 19 players and adds seven newcomers for 2016-17. Coming back for the Tigers this season are 12 forwards, four defensemen and all three goalies from last year's NCAA Tournament team. The Tigers have seven seniors, five juniors, seven sophomores, and seven freshmen.
Robert Morris opened the 2016-17 season with an exhibition contest of its own last Saturday vs. Queen's College, skating to a 2-2 tie. Robert Morris held a 33-17 advantage in shots, as Matthew Graham and Daniel Leavens scored for the Colonials. Robert Morris won the 2016 Atlantic Hockey regular season crown and finished 24-11-4 in 2015-16, falling to RIT in the Atlantic Hockey Championship game. The Colonials graduated their top four leading scorers but return Brady Ferguson and Leavens, who combined for 31 goals and 63 points a season ago. In net, Dalton Izyk returns for his final season and has a 25-8-1 career record.
Robert Morris leads the all-time series between the two schools, 10-7-4. The Tigers went 2-1 against the Colonials a year ago, including a 7-4 win in the Atlantic Hockey Championship.
Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) had two goals and two assists in the championship game to be named Tournament Most Valuable Player.
Both games will be aired live on Time Warner Cable Sports (98 on Friday, 26 on Saturday) in Rochester, with Gene Battaglia and John DiTullio on the call from the Polisseni Center. The new pregame show with host Kevin Roche airs at 6:30 p.m. In addition, both contests will be broadcast over the airwaves on WITR 89.7 FM and
witr.rit.edu, while streaming
video and
live stats will available.
Come out and support the Tigers as they begin their quest towards a third straight league championship.
